
^ 


























^'\, 




• A. 






^0^S■ 

























•' „^^ 












4 O ,. r 

*7 





1 v*\^ * 




•*U.o< 



'• ^r 




.^'\ 



* A. 




Dedicated to My Father, 

Linus H. Bassett, Atty., 

Little Sioux, Iowa. 

*'Him Whose Words are Oracles Divine" page 9 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 

BY 
BASIL BLAINE BASSETT 



Copyright. 1915, by 
Basil Blaine Bassett 



The Chesnutt Printing Company 
Iowa City, Iowa 



CI.A4112S0 



AUG 30 1915 

^0 I 



CONTENTS 

Page 

To Father on His Sixty-fifth Birthday ... 9 

A Contrary Muse . ; 11 

Lovely Little Sue 11 

Ode to the Little Sioux River 13 

The E-ah-ne-ah-wau-de-pon 14 

Bob-white 16 

Ode to the Hills 16 

The Golden West 19 

The School Bell's Voice 20 

On a Dead Crane 23 

The Death of Fluttering Quail 24 

Poetic Nature 28 

The Hound of Killary . 29 

Valparaiso 34 

The House on the Hill 35 

A real Mr. Great Heart 42 

Love and Hate 48 

Traitor Hayes— A Tale of the Phillipine War . . 48 

Dawn 56 

To a False Friend 56 

On an Eclipse of the Sun, i\Iay, 1900 .... 57 

China 58 

The Star's Mirror 59 

The Blue-Jay 60 

Blind 61 

The First Snow-Storm 62 

The Spirit of the Storm 63 

Dandy-Lion and Sweet Violet 64 

A Modern Samson 65 



To the Swallow 67 

To an Organist 6S 

My Amarantlms (.1 Day-Dream) 69 

Brown-Eyes 71 

Ode to Summer 72 

The Magical Lyre 73 

The Dream of Old Age 74 

A Letter 75 

Modern Faith 76 

Two Words 78 

The Golden Calf 80 

The Optimist 82 

Love's Philosophy 84 

A Withered Anemone 86 

Hail! Flag of Our Nation 87 

The Huskers 88 

The Spectral Canoe 89 

The Dance 92 

The Forsaken Altar 95 

The Song of the Angels 96 

The Bitter-sweet 97 

To Florence 99 

The Death of Love's Messenger 100 

Dawn 102 

On hearing a Woman Sing at Church 102 

Not Peace, but War 103 

Lost in a Blizzard 106 

The Atheist 107 

Plant, Thou, a Tree 108 

The Red-White-and-Blue-Bird 109 

To Ermina Perkins Kearney 110 

The Last Day of November 112 

The Land of Freedom 113 



The Question 114 

Lonliness of Spirit 115 

Only a Nigger 117 

The Messenger to Her Grave 117 

Our Indian Guest 121 

Thought 123 

Anarchism 125 

The Quarrel 127 

The Adder and the Flower 128 

The Englishman's Blunder 129 

The Battle of the Winds 131 

Thirst for Knowledge 133 

Russia 's Disgrace 134 

The Beginning of Sorrows 136 

Red Deer's Prophecy 138 

The New- Year Slogan 141 

The Triumph of Peace 144 

England's Glorious Rule 146 

The Destruction of the Maine 147 

Child of ]\Iy Youth 149 

The Mesopotamian Queen 152 

A Re-Union 153 

Ultima Pluria Anni 155 

Oh, Will You be My Valentine ? 156 

In the Twilight 157 

Sabbath Morning 158 

To my Pupils 159 

The Prophet of Latter Days . . . ' . . .161 

Venus 162 

The Harbor of Death 163 

The African Poets' Tomb 164 

They Stood on the Bridge at Twilight .... 166 

On an Infant in Its Cradle 167 



The Rain on the Roofs 169 

The Soldier River 170 

Sun-Set Musings 171 

A Song of Contentment 172 

The Theater of Life .173 

The Death of Pope Leo XIII .175 



TO FATHER ON HIS SIXTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY 

The hand of Memory turns the magic key 
That opens wide the portal of the past; 

While Fancy waves her fairy wand o'er me, 
And with a spell of musing binds me fast. 

I see a babe upon its father's knee, 
Its eyes are open wide in wonderment. 

It claps its chubby hands and coos to see 
The kindly smiling features o 'er it bent. 

The picture changes, and a blooming boy 
Goes toddling, prattling, up the garden walk 

To meet with much anticipated joy 
The one he loves to mimic and to mock. 

Another shift of life's kinetoscope — 
A dreamy youth that yearns to see beyond 

His dim horizon; led by Faith and Hope; 
Lured by Imagination's fairy wand; 

Goes hand in hand in pasture, field, and wood, 
With him whose words are oracles divine; 

And gamers truths, before not understood; 
And reads from Nature's volume line on line. 

Another change : the youth becomes the man. 
With worldly cares and sorrows of his own; 

But still the father shares his every plan. 
Nor does he venture yet to walk alone. 



10 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

But time and change are tireless in their round, 
The paths of duty lead them far apart. 

By cords of woman's love, a captive bound; 
By business called to seek a distant mart. 

Thus runs the tale of life in ceaseless round — 
Another infant on a father's knee — 

Another youth by Hope and Courage crowned— 
Another full-grown man and progeny. 

The lisp of babes, the dreams of restless youth, 
The cares of manhood, and paternal joy ; 

The soul's unrest, the tireless search for truth, 
Man's brief existence ever shall employ. 

We each are but a microscopic link 
In God's great evolutionary chain; 

From such a destiny why need we shrink, 
Or, therefore, deem our lives are lived in vain. 

We may not know the purpose or the plan 
Of Him who rules the boundless universe ; 

But this we know — as man to fellow man, 
We either are a blesing or a curse. 

Then let us gladly spend our life on earth 
To help create a nobler race of men; 

And, in each generation given birth, 
We'll, reincarnate, nobler live again. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE H 

A CONTRARY MUSE 

I am trying to think how to write something better 

Than ever was written before in a letter; 
But the longer I meditate over my table 

To get inspiration, the less I am able. 
It's really impossible, now and forever, 

To coax up my muse to write anything clever. 
She will soar, if she has such a strange inclination, 

But I cannot compel her by much cogitation. 
She is obstinate, contrary, very mischievous, 

And the way that she treats me is certainly grievous. 
She keeps me awake when I'm trying to slumber 

By telling me stories of infinite number. 
She hovers about me when trying to study. 

And whispers of maidens with faces so ruddy. 
If I sit down to write on a thrilling oration. 

She jumbles my thoughts with a lover's narration. 
She teases, displeases, and causes me worry; 

She ought to be tried and condemned by a jury. 
Whatever I ponder, wherever I wander, 

A part of my time she is certain to squander. 



LOVELY LITTLE SUE 

Do you know a charming lady who possesses modest wealth, 
Polished manners, queenly bearing, and the rosy tint of 
health ? 
She has worshippers unnumbered, staunch and loyal, tried 
and true. 
And by folly unencumbered is our lovely little Sue. 



12 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

When the spring has come to visit she will doff her robes of 
white, 
And will don a gown exquisite, purest green, with flowers 
bedight. 
When in pleasant days of summer purls a river at her feet. 
Doth a leafy hood become her and protect her from the 
heat. 

When the clouds around her hover and the stars emit no 
light. 
Doth she sleep without a cover, save the sable robe of 
night. 
On a bed of grass and clover doth she lay herself to rest, 
Bright the Heaven arches over where she slumbers on 
earth 's breast. 

0, I am her ardent lover and my love for her avow ! 
I have stood on hills above her, watched Sol kiss her dewy 
brow, 
As he rose above their summit in resplendent glory dressed. 
Like the prince that waked the princess from a hundred 
years of rest. 
Sweeter than celestial music or the Vocal Memnon's tone, 
When the sun in ancient Aegypt on its marble features 
shone. 
Are the songsters' warbled matins when the sun returns to 
woo. 
With his softest smiles and kisses, rosy-blushing Little 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 13 

When my hair begins to whiten and my weary feet to lag, 
May thy cheerful presence brighten with a smile life's 

highest crag, 
Like the sunset rays that dally on the hilltop bald and gray. 
Ere within death's shadowed valley I must take my lonely 

way. 



ODE TO THE LITTLE SIOUX RIVER 

0, Little Sioux River, 

Thanks be to the Giver 
For all the rich blessings thy clear waters bring ! 

When winter's grip broken 

Has left ne'er a token. 
Thy flood waters come as a herald of spring. 

Then often in summer 

When catfish and drummer 
Are sporting about in thy cool depths below ; 

When minature billows 

Sweep over the willows 
That stoop to thy waters and lave in their flow ; 

Tis exquisite pleasure 

Of infinite measure, 
In life's dreamy morning thy wave to glide o'er. 

With oar dipping lightly, 

And sun shining brightly. 
Except where the shadows are cast from the shore. 



14 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

But, 0, for the weather, 

When, down like a feather. 
The snow-flakes are falling o'er meadow and hill; 

Wlien over thy bosom, 

That winter hath frozen. 
The skaters are gliding with hearty good-will ! 

0, Little Sioux River, 

Thanks be to the Giver, 
For all the rich blessings you ever will bring, 

When whirling and swirling, 

When sparkling and purling, 
Thy flood watei^ come as a herald of spring! 



THE E-AH-NE-AH-WAU-DE-PON. 

The Indian's bark has glided on 

The E- ah-ne-ah-wau-de-pon. 
And through the willows on its brink 

The panting deer has rushed to drink. 
Unnumbered years have passed and still 

Unchanging as the low-browed hill, 
Along whose base the river sweeps. 

It all its charm and beauty keeps. 

The dusky maiden loved to dream 

Beside the crystal, purling stream. 
Beneath some leafy, sheltered bower, 

At summer's sultry noon-tide hour; 
Or listen to the flitting birds 

That tell their love in twittered words 
Or bathe within at early dawn 

The E-ah-ne-ah-wau-de-pon. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 15 

An acorn fell, an. oak-tree grew 

In sun and shade, in rain and dew, 
And lived and died. Time passed until 

Its offspring saw from yonder hill 
The French explorer's light canoe 

On Little River of the Sioux, 
Where once the Indian sailed upon 

The E-ah-ne-ah-wau-de-pon. 

Before the lapse of many years 

There came the early pioneers. 
And bridged it with a wooden frame, 

And gave the stream another name. 
The oak-tree died and thundered down — 

Its offspring grew until a town 
Within the distance came to view 

Beside the river, Little Sioux. 

Though memory of man may fail. 

And legend never tell the tale, 
The E-ah-ne-ah-wau-de-pon. 

Shall still flow on and on and on. 
In death the French explorer lies. 

His name and lineage with him dies, 
But still shall flow as wont to do, 

The Little River of the Sioux. 



16 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

I sing thy praise in humble lays, 

Thy pristine beauty, gentle ways. 
As when thou wert in years agone. 

The E-ah-ne-ah-wau-de-pon ; 
For thou hast ever been the same 

Unchanging stream, though changed in name, 
And for our dwellings on thy banks. 

We give to God our humble thanks. 

BOB-WHITE. 

The dew of dawn upon its crest. 

It v/akes with morning from its rest 
Amid the waving, sparkling grass. 

That drips with diamonds where I pass; 
Then with a startling whirr of wings. 
From lap of earth it blithely springs, 
And with its downy throbbing breast 
By sportful breezes soft carressed. 
It fades at distance from my sight. 
But lingers yet its sweet "bob-white. 



>? 



ODE TO THE HILLS 

Ye pleasant hills ! Ye verdant hills ! 

Witli summer's heat aglow, 
I seek thy vales where crystal rills 

In purling rapture flow ; 
Where frangrance sweet, the rose distills, 

On zephers soft that blow. 
And waft the perfume till it fills 

The valleys far below. 




LYRICS OP LEISURE 17 

I know the secrets of thy breast, 

Thy hidden treasures see, 
For oft as on thy lap I rest, 

Thou tellest tales to me — 
Until my soul, with care oppressed. 

In joy communes with 'thee. 

Thy spirit whispers in my ear 

Of happy days agone, 
When on the wooded slope, the deer 

Sprang up to greet the dawn, 
Without a sign of conscious fear, 

While near her stood the fawn. 

Then did the coyote nightly prowl 

In eager search of prey. 
Or on thy lofty summit howl 

To taunt departing day- 
While from her dark recess, the owl 

Winged through the twilight gray. 

It v/hispers how in days of old, 

With speech and manner rude. 
Within thy dells the warrior bold 

His dusky maiden wooed — 
Or through thy snowy hollows cold 

The startled deer pursued. 

I thank thee for the visions bright 

Of days that long are passed. 
Before the white man trod thy height. 

And wish that they might last; 
I dwell with thee in fond delight. 

And share in all thou hast. 



18 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

Thou hast a wealth of treasure still 
To charm the human heart, — 

Thy scenes of beauty ever will 
Defy the hand of art, 

For nature, with unrivaled skill, 
Did thee her best impart. 

I see the bird upon the nest, 

The hollow linden tree, 
Containing in its ample chest 

The honey of the bee. 
Thou art in flowery colors dressed 

Of sweetest harmony. 

Strawberries kiss thy shady dells. 

And sarvessberries blue. 
Gooseberries ripen in the dells. 

And grapes of purple hue, 
Kaspberries rugged banks compel 

To yield a harvest, too. 

I know that on thy summit sleeps 
The Red Man where I tread. 

While at thy foot the White Man weeps 
To lay away his dead — 

Thus man, while living, from thee reaps, 
Then in thee makes his bed. 

Ye ghostly hills ! Ye spectral hills ! 

When covered deep with snow. 
When bearing chills and human ills. 

The winds of winter blow, 
With thoughts of thee my bosom thrills, 

And dreams of long ago. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 19 

THE GOLDEN WEST 

Hail to the West, to the golden West ! 

To its spirit bold and free ! 
Never a place on earth so blest! 

Tis the only home for me! 

Where the boundless prairies stretch away, 

Like a vast unruffled sea ; 
And day by day the wild herds stray — 

Is the place I long to be. 

Where the mountains rise to prop the skies, 

With a grandeur none can tell; 
Where solemn and still all nature lies, 

As bound by a magic spell ; 

Where eternal snows their summits crown; 

But the valleys wide, between. 
Where crystal streams come tumbling down, 

Are beautiful, fresh and green. 

0, the pulses bound and the eyes grow bright, 

And the pale face glows with zest ; 
As I leave the city with heart so light 

For my home in the Golden West. 



20 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

THE SCHOOL BELL'S VOICE. 

What bade my muse to breathe this soug, 
While on the breezes borne along, 
A pealing anthem, swelling strong, 
Rolled from the ringing bell ? 
Twas this, a gray-haired sire did tell. 
While solemn as a funeral knell. 
Its dying cadence rose and fell, 
And echoed back, ''Farewell". 

' ' Toll on, old bell, so sad and slow, 

Till from your brazen tongue doth flow 
A milder strain of long ago, 
The memory of youth ! 
Ring in once more the ardent love ! 
Ring in the quarrels of angered Jove! 
Ring in. the emblematic dove 
Of sacred peace and truth." 

* ' How oft I 've heard that school-bell ring 
In childhood days, life's joyful spring. 
And still its clear voice seems to bring 
A kind of truant dread. 
How loathe we were to leave our play, 
In winter chill or flowery May, 

At school to fret long hours away, — 
But those bright days soon sped." 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 21 

For when Dame Wisdom first began 
Time's e'er increasing lapse to span, 
She shaped the woman and the man 
We see in after years. 
The setting sun of life has cast 

A luster o'er those days long past; 
The future looms a darkness vast — 
The end of hopes and fears." 

"Scarce noticed is the pass of time 
Till works of men that tower sublime, 
And master thoughts of those that climb 
The wayward height to fame, 
Are cast aside by life's high-tide; 

That stately form, the w^arrior's pride. 
The beauty that with Venus vied, 
Is but an echoed name." 

''Though hopes and joys so brightly flame, 
It shall not always be the same ; 
Oft sorrows blight our highest aim, 
Oft shroud our joys in shame ! 
Then toll the bell so sad and slow. 
And list the voice that whispers low. 
The many tales of bliss and woe 
That youthful years proclaim." 



22 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

The old man paused, I turned away 
And thought of eyes so bright, to-day, 
As dimmed by age, while locks of gray 
Took place of golden hair. 
No thanks, Parnassus, for thy lay — 
As one, our hearts; as one, our way; 
We give ambition boundless sway — 
Seek not gloom's mask to wear. 

Our dreams, our aspirations rise 
On Fancy's wings to summer skies, 
Though hoary sages might advise, 
A lower height to brave ; 
For Fame is like the climbing vine. 
Whose tendrils barren trees entwine, 

Yields luscious fruit, which turned to wine, 
Oft makes the man a slave. 

So when with age our forms are bent — 
With worldly cares our strength is spent — 
We rest in cheerful homes, content 
To muse on other days; 
0, may that school-bell's echoes steal 
Upon our dreams, until we feel 
Again the bliss that years conceal. 
And tread youth's golden ways. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 23 

ON A DEAD CRANE 

Under the heaven's broad expanse, 

High in air where the sun's bright lance 

Pierces the half-formed, fleecy cloud. 
Once you winged with a noisy crowd. 

Eyes as black as two drops of ink. 
Over your spread wings awful brink, 

Down to the distant earth below, 
Calmly gazed on your mortal foe. 

Probably ere you saw the smoke, 

Or heard the echo the gun awoke. 
You felt the shot that smote your breast. 

And found, unwelcome, a deadly rest. 

One piercing cry to your mates you raised, 
A moment longer your bright eyes blazed. 

Then dimmed forever, and not a sound 
Was heard again till you smote the ground. 

The hunter boasts of the deed he has done, 
And proudly praises his certain aim; 

Praises the deadliness of his gun. 

With never a thought of grief or shame. 

Earth has lost a part of her charm, 

Life is a boon only God can give; 
The sportsman gloats o 'er thy beauteous form. 

But I only would it again might live! 



24 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

THE DEATH OF FLUTTERING QUAIL. 

See yonder farm house capped with winter snow, 
Near where the ice bound river, Little Sioux, 

The low hills meet; twas once called Fontainebleau, 
Btit then this land was wild and strange and new. 

A lonely cabin once stood, in its place. 

A pioneer had built it years ago. 
He took a wife, Assinaboine by race, 

And once more did an Eden bring forth woe. 

Twas not this time of year, but in the Fall, 
"When happened that which I will now relate. 

Around their home the grass had grown so tall, 
It hid the beauty of their wild estate. 

Sioux Indians Avere waging bloody war 
Against the Omahas, a neighboring tribe ; 

But naught the settler's happiness could mar, • 
Nor could I half that happiness describe. 

One day the settler on the hunt had gone 
Before the burning sun rose o'er the hill. 

And heralded in the day's resplendent dawn, 
And drove away the morning's damp and chill. 

He 'd told his wife that by this wooded stream. 
He dressed and hung the carcass of a deer. 

While telling her, how little did he dream, 

Eacli word wouUl cost him many a bitter tear. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 25 

As often brightest lives the shortest seem, 

The warm, clear Autumn day soon passed away. 

The Eastern hills threw back the sunset's beam. 
The hunter home returned at close of day. 

As if the burning sun had dropped a spark 

And set the heaven's Occident on fire, 
The west flamed red while in a southern arc, 

A cloud arose in grim and dark* attire. 

Meanwhile the wife, from household duties free. 
Had thought^ to make a happy evening meal. 

Procuring from the settler's well marked tree 
The venison, the branches should conceal. 

5 

So taking by the hand her little child, 
Nine summer's bloom of roses on her cheek. 

She and her daughter crossed the prairie wild, 
The blessing of a hunters' store to seek. 

When they had nearly reached the river's bank, 
A fiendish cry broke on the startled air; 

And through the mists that rose so foul and dank, 
They saw a band of Indians fording there. 

She knew that they mistook her for a foe. 
And knew that it was certain death for her; 

For fast they rode with shout and bended bow, 
And horror-bound she did not dare to stir. 



26 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

But to her aid a mother's impulse came. 

The grass so rank had surely hid the child. 
So, kissing her and breathing once her name, 

She bade her quiet be and parting, smiled. 

So like the bird that tries to shield her nest 
By fluttering on the ground in wild dismay, 

And by the eager hunter close is pressed. 
Till thus deceived he 's slyly led away ; 

Fluttering Quail fled hard before her foes. 
But soon was overtaken on the plain. 

Though knowing in death's agonizing throes, 
Her one last hope was surely not in vain. 

The warriors fired not on her as she fled, 
But stopping by her side with faces grim. 

With friendship, as for one already dead. 

Each shook her hand perhaps with dark eyes dim. 

Although she clasped their hands without a word. 
The touch to her sent far more piercing pangs, 

Than could the rattle-snake whose warning's heard 
That he awaits with deadly poison fangs. 

As when wolves cry, sheep tremble in the fold, 
The settler having reached his humble cot. 

Stood trembling pale and weak — his blood ran cold, 
To hear the demon cries with menace fraught. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE . 27 

There from that cleared and elevated spot, 

He gazed across the prairie to the west. 
He saw the horrid scene and knew a shot 

Had torn for aye that loved one from his breast. 

He saw her slayers wildly ride away, 
Till lost in hazy distance to his sight; 

Then rushed with frantic haste to where she lay, 
While like a pall came down the shades of night. 

But one had reached her side before he came. 

Her child upon her bleeding bosom sobbed, 
While from a cloud a lurid lightning flame 

Burst forth, and heaven with the thunder throbbed. 

That night a fearful storm of wind and rain 
Aroused the peaceful valley from its rest. 

As if to wash away the bloody stain, 

A torrent swept down from the low hill's crest. 

While somewhere in the shelter of the hills, 
A band of red men lay in silent dread ; 

And in the rain and wind and rushing rills. 
They heard the angry spirit of the dead. 

All night the child wept o'er the lifeless form : 
The face from which the tender smile had fled. 

The eyes forever closed that once could warm 
Her grief -chilled heart with light of love they shed. 



28 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

She joined her father in a fervent prayer, 
And helped him make the rude constructed bier. 

Her heart had learned life's greatest grief to share 
Her life had learned the virtue of a tear. 

Next day the wind had swept the heavens clear, 
And tearfully they laid her in the dust; 

A mother, wife, and one to both most dear, 
With sympathy of Christian hope and trust. 

The seasons came and went with rapid pace. 
And when the child to womanhood had grown, 

She pined away till Death usurped her place, 
And left her gray-haired sire to die alone. 

Now on the dreary hill three lonely graves 
Lie 'neath a snowy coverlet of white ; 

"While over them the bitter north wind raves, 
And shakes the trees around them in its flight. 



POETIC NATURE 

Whene 'er I hear the rapturous flow of music. 
Whene'er I read the page of poet's passion, 
Whene 'er I see the bloom of virgin beauty, 
]\Iy soul, entranced, flies up on wings of Fancy 

To meet an unknown God. 
Tis then I walk above all mortal beings. 
And gaze with pity on each friend and stranger. 
And soar to touch the golden dome of Heaven, 
Until the spell's by human passion broken, 

And I am but a man. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 29 

THE HOUND OF KILLARY. 

The Hound of Killaiy, the scourge of the plain, 

The shepherds had cursed at and hunted in vain ; 
For roaming, at will, from his master's abode, 

Mid wilds where the King of the Hunt never rode. 
He often, would steal from an unguarded flock 

A sheep or a lamb, and away with it stalk. 
By paths never pressed by the footsteps of man, 

Except a strange master and a half -savage clan. 

When sheep-folds were guarded, snares laid in his way, 

He sought in the forest some fleet-footed prey, 
Till startled at last by the bay of the hound, 

The deer from its hiding place sprang Avith a bound. 
For hour after hour, over hill and through vale. 

The Hound of Killary would follow the trail. 
And when he returned to his master at night, 

Behold what a fierce and a blood-thirsty sight — 
His gaunt frame bespattered with dirt and with gore, 

He would sleep as a sentinel close by the door. 

An old adage says, "Every dog has his day," 

At last he was captured and led far away 
From haunts in the wild to a pleasant estate. 

The home of a nobleman, wealthy and great. 
He fretted and snarled in his chains for a week, 

But fed well and petted, grew tame, fat, and sleek. 
Ere long, he was trusted, though chained as before. 

To sleep as a guard at his new master's door. 



30 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

A year passed away and the nobleman died, 
And she who a short time before was his bride 

Was left with a fortune and high-titled name, 
A widow of beauty and talent and fame. 

One night she awoke in the morning's first hour, 
As if she were clutched by a devilish power. 

A cold chill ran oA^er her delicate frame, 

As wildly she muttered her poor husband's name; 

And then with a start came a still greater dread, 
For out in the darkness a voice answered, ''dead." 

How welcome the dawn was, for after her dream. 
To sleep was impossible. As the first gleam 

Of the comforting sun drove the darkness away. 
She rose from her bed and then knelt down to pray. 

' ' Oh, midnight of terror, the dream that you told 

Would surely affright the most daring and bold ; 
And can it have been but a nightmare, a dream. 

So real and so life-like the images seem. 
I saw in the deathly and treacherous gloom. 

The robber and mui'derer enter the room, 
I sav/ — for the clouds for a moment unveiled 

The face of the moon as they parted and sailed — 
The features of him vrho with uplifted knife 

Bent over my pillow and threatened my life. 
•It seemed that I knew him. I tried hard to speak. 

My lips would not move for my heart was too weak. 
The knife Vv^as descending, I turned from the stroke. 

And shuddering, trembling, perspiring, awoke." 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 31 

' ' Oh, is it a warning of evil to be, 

Some terrible danger that's threatening me! 
For was I not told in a dream ere he died 

That death claimed my husband— and often I cried 
"With heart nearly breaking— he laughed at my fear, 

Ere half a year passed he was lain on his bier. 
Then long years ago when my life was still new, 

When pleasures were many and sorrows were few, 
I saw in a vision the awful disgrace — 

My brother a Cain with the brand on his face. 
A day or so after with passion insane, 

One brother of mine by another was slain.. 
We grieved for the living, we mourned for the dead. 

From law and from justice the criminal fled ; 
And whether he lies in a suicide's grave. 

Or lives as an outlaw in some mountain cave, 
I know not ; but feel that the deed was foretold — 

A new horror now is before me unrolled. ' ' 
And thus did she muse, though she spoke not a word 

To servants or friends, lest they deem it absurd. 

Another night came and her fancy was fired 

With dreadful forebodings, so ere she retired. 
She loosed from his chains, setting free in her hall, 

The Hound of Killary, the captive, the thrall, 
Who now had forgotten his wilderness home. 

Where once he delighted an outlaw to roam, 
Pursuing the wild deer and swimming the flood, 

But had not forgotten his thirsting for blood. 



32 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Her soft hand carressed him as if she would say, 
"To-night you will frighten all danger away." 

He lifted his dark eyes and stretched forth his paws, 
Lying down with a yawn of his great wicked jaws. 

As if he replied, ''Sleep ,and fear no alarm. 

The Hound of Killary will keep you from harm." 

Just twelve by the startling stroke of the clock. 

She awoke from her sleep with a terrible shock. 
A growl, low and sullen, a shriek and a fall. 

Then silence again in the great darkened hall. 
Her heart throbbed within her as if it would burst. 

And she would have cried for relief if she durst ; 
But fear held her tongue — yet in dreadful suspense 

For her would-be assailant, she almost relents 
Having loosened the dog, for each rustling sound 

Made her think of a man being torn by that hound. 

The hours passed away, oh, so sad and so slow, 

As if they were loathe or unwilling to go; 
But finally day in its splendor returned, 

And brightly the sun in the orient burned 
Now cheered by the presence of daylight once more, 

She hastily dressed, and unlocking the door. 
Stepped out in the hallway, ^vhen, lo, what a sight ! 

More terrible still than her dreams in the night ! 
Outstretched on the floor, lying flat on his back, 

"With his glass}-- eyes fixed and his face blue and black, 
With the fangs of the hound in his throat fastened deep, 

Lay a man in a waking, yet unbroken sleep. 
A knife had been plunged in the dog's sunken side. 

And over the floor ran his blood's ebbing tide. 
She called to the dog, but he raised not his head — 

The trustworthy Hound of Killary was dead. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 33 

Brave Hound of Killary, an innocent life 

Was saved by thy death from a murderer's knife. 
On the throat of the victim you loosed not your hold, 

Though strength was fast failing, your heart gro'\ving 
cold. 
True Hound of Killary, Oh, did you not know 

The step of your master when long, long ago, 
Amid the dark forest you fed from his hand, 

And willingly heard and obeyed his command! 
Yet true to the one who had trusted your power 

To keep her from harm in that perilous hour. 
You did but your duty and died in the cause. 

Thus perished together — the noted outlaws. 
She bent o'er the man in the morning's dim light. 

With teeth firmly set and \vith face ghastly white. 
And there she the same brutal features beheld, 

She had seen in her dream ; and all doubt was dispelled 
That warning was given. Oh, could he have told 

The tale of his life and his longing for gold. 
And how on one night he had entered her room — 

But frightened away by a voice in the gloom. 
With double resolve once again had returned — 

Her heart with the joy of revenge might have burned. 
But lying there thus in the rigor of death, 

His muscles all tense from tlie struggle for breath, 
She felt a great pity sweep over her heart — 

Then came recognition, with, oh, such a start! 
Her hand sought her bosom as if she would stay 

The flood of her life tliat seemed ebbing away; 
For there lay the brother, the outlaw, the Cain, 

And reeling with anguish and fainting with pain, 
She suddenly sank to the floor in a swoon, 

And thus overcome, she recovered not soon. 



34 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

The rest of the story is simple to tell. 

The servants discovered her just where she fell 
And tenderly carried her back to her bed, 

Where many a weary day passed o'er her head, 
Before she was well and as strong as before — 

And the Hound of Killary she never saw more. 
An uncared for grave that no marble adorns, 
Undecked by sv;eet flowers, but covered with thorns, 
Now holds the remains of the master and hound, 

"Who were laid side by side in the burying ground. 

Brave Hound of Killary, sleep long and sleep well, 
And legend shall love still the story to tell 

For ages to come, how an innocent life 
Was saved by thy death from a murderer's knife. 

—April, 1905. 

VALPARAISO 

In the Vale of Paradise there are many laughing eyes. 
And the sunlight never dies in their depths of love and 
light; 
And the faces wear a glow, only joy and health bestow. 
Summer's heat and winter's snow cannot wither, can- 
not blight. 

From the earth's remotest parts, rural scenes and busy 
marts, 
Hail the many happy hearts in thy alma mater breast; 
From beneath the Northern pines, Southern palm trees. 
Western vines, 
From the mountains and the prairies of the beauteous, 
golden West. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 35 

Here the buds of hope unfold, blossom into wealth untold, 
Not of hard and sordid gold, but of ideals pure and high ; 

Noble purposes and thought, by the hand of wisdom 
wrought. 
By the few selected sought, upward looking to the sky. 

Unto thee be all the praise for success of future days, 
And, perhaps, as we shall gaze on the past in days to 
come, 
We shall see those laughing eyes in the Vale of Paradise, 
In whose depths the sunlight lies, though the lips have 
long been dumb. 



THE HOUSE ON THE HILL 

Where the road climbs up a hillside steep 

From a narrow valley, rich and deep. 
Through which a brook meandering flows 

When fed by rains or melting snows — 
Midway upon the somber hill 

Where calls the owl or whippoorwill. 
When evening sheds her shade and dew, 

A farm house rises to one's view. 

The mansion, built for warmth and wear. 
Is spacious and in good repair; 

Although the hands that built it there 
Have ceased to labor and to bear 

The burdens of an earthly life, 

With sweat and toil and common strife. 



36 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

It fronts the east where out of sight 

The road climbs up the wooded height; 
AVhere first the sun his glory sheds, 

Above the oak-tree's rounded heads; 
And at the rear the viewer sees 

An orchard fair of apple trees, 
Where in the Fall the boughs are red 

With luscious fruit, and where you tread 
The fallen apples lie around 

In heaps o 'erspreading all the ground. 
Toward the south one looks across 

A valley where in Autumn toss 
The many colored boughs of trees 

In every wind and frolic breeze; 
Beyond, the hills arise so high, 

They seem to touch the bending sky. 

Here in the Fall when woods were brown., 

Far from the noisy life of town, 
I've wandered in the quietude 

Of hill and dale and drowsy wood. 
I've heard the flight of rabbit's feet. 

When frightened from a safe retreat ; 
I 've seen the squirrels race along. 

And listened to the wild bird's song; 
I've seen the crows in flocks arise, 

And blacken for awhile the skies; 
I've picked the blushing bittersweet. 

Whose berries are the wild bird 's treat ; 
While asters, nodding golden rod 

The milk-weeds silk lined, bursting pod. 
The gention with its drupelets red 

Are round in wild profusion spread. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Once more I enter at the gate. 

The watch-dog greets me while I wait . 
The master's hand to turn the lock, 

In answer to my timid knock. 
He greets me at the opened door 

With welcome as in days of yore. 
His brow is decked as long ago, 

With five and eighty winters' snow. 
And yet his grip is firm and strong, 

His eyes are clear, and, like a song. 
The cadence of his voice is sweet, 

His figure, straight and full and neat. 

Ho^v often have I heard him tell 
WHien shadows of the evening fell. 

And round the hearth we sat at ease. 
Of his old home across the seas. 

Amid the hills of Scotland fair. 
When 3^outh was his without a care. 

At sixteen years, he went from home, 
O'er oceans wild, abroad to roam, 

And on a merchant vessel sailed. 

While often gales around it wailed, 

And stormy waves rolled mountain high. 
Dipped to the depths and dashed to the sky 



38 LYRICS OP LEISURE \ 

I 
For eight long years he braved the deep, 

And trusted in God's power to keep ' 

A sailor from an nnkno^vn grave I 

Beneath the ever restless wave. [ 
At last he quit the main and found 

Upon Columbia's hallowed ground \ 

A safe abode, a home secure, \ 

And taught by hardships to endure, 
He journeyed to the west and here 

Became the earliest pioneer. \ 

j 

Thrice married for two wives have died, j 

By sickness parted from his side, i 

Twelve children claimed his care and aid, i 

Till in maturity they made - 

There homes in distant climes, ' 

Save one, a dutiful and loving son, ; 

Who still remains to bear the load j 

Of life along the dusty road. \ 

Of all the virtues we extoll 

In lives of great men or of small, j 

The one which far outshines the rest, I 

And shows in man his very best. 

Is filial affection shown ' 

By children when to manhood grown. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 39 

Beside the master sits the wife, 

The comfort of his later life. 
A kind, good-natured woman, she. 

Of open-hearted charity ; 
And gifted with uncommon sense 

That comes from wide experience. 
Twice married she and twice bereaved 

Of him to whom for aid she cleaved, 
But in her riper, calmer years. 

Inured to sorrow, care, and tears. 
She met and wed her counterpart 

In feeling, purpose, faith and heart. 

How often is the sky o'ercast 

With murky clouds, and in the blast 
Of chilling wind the leaves drop fast. 

The day is dreary, dark, and wet, 
But ere the golden sun has set, 

The heavens clear and cease to fret. 
How often life is nearly spent 

In sorrow and in discontent. 
But in the swiftly falling eve, 

The spirit calms, forgets to grieve. 
The clouds depart that hid the past, 

And leave it to rejoice at last. 



40 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

A grandchild sits beside the fire, 

A fleshy, comely child whose sire 
Had left her to the better care 

Of those about her, and aware 
That they would treat her as their own 

Had ne 'er returned. No more was known. 
Her mother died when she was born. 

And from her arms the child was torn. 
They called her Carmen, meaning song. 

I fear they may have named her wrong. 
Her tunes all sound so much the same, 

You could not tell them but by name. 

I miss one face beside the hearth, 

The very soul of wit and mirth. 
The good wife's youngest daughter, she. 

Who to this home first welcomed me. 
Her smiles were free, her words were kind, 

And showed the beauty of her mind. 
Her lively presence cheered the room. 

Her absence left it full of gloom. 
Her busy fingers toiled away. 

And helped her mother day by day. 
And when the evening work was done. 

The time was spent in seemly fun, 
Or o'er the great piano's keys. 

Her fingers wandered with an ease 
And grace that thrilled the sentient heart, 

And showed the mastery of art. 
Then oft together we would sing. 

While time sped on electric wing, 
And in this home was happiness, 

Without a shadow of distress. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 41 

Oh, what a pleasure tis to gaze 

On past events, which through the haze 
Of passing years, seem strangely bright ; 

Revealing bliss, concealing blight. 
A lover wooed, a lover sued. 

Her heart was won, her cheerful mood 
Henceforth was changed. In discontent 

And dreams, her leisure time was spent. 

When farmers store their barns with hay, 

There dawned the happy wedding day. 
She wed the lover of her choice. 

With him to labor and rejoice. 
''Farewell," a mother bids, ''Farewell!" 

' ' To thee, my daughter, one farewell. 
Oh, may you ever dAvell in peace. 

Thy joy with coming years increase." 

Such are the thoughts that come to me, 

While seated in their company. 
The time slips by, the afternoon. 

In friendly chat, goes all too soon. 
The day is drawing to a close. 

And falling shades invite repose. 
Goodbye, is said, but at the door, 

I stop to bid adieu once more. 
The twilight chill is very still, 

And as I journey down the hill, 
A sadness steals across my heart ; 

And tears, which struggle now to start. 
Are checked by will, and in the dell, 

I stop and bid a last farewell. 



42 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

A REAL MR. GREAT HEART 

Prologue 
Behold the man possessed of princely power, 

The millionaire that barters ^vealth for praise, 
And flattered lives until that dreaded hour 

That ends his wasted, uneventful days. 

What muses do their gilded wings unfold, 
And, soaring, sing his praises, half-divine ; 

And yet the author, thinking of the gold. 
But smiles at end of every pompous line. 

Behold the demagogue, whose voice is heard 
Proclaiming right, and truth and noble thought. 

Until humanity is moved and stirred; 

And yet each syllable, he speaks, is bought. 

Let others fawn and flatter if they will. 

My muse will ever scorn so vile a thing; 
And only with a worthy subject thrill; 

And only merit, truth, and virtue sing. 

Canto I, The Choice of Wisdo^n 
I know a man who, in his youthful years. 

The path of wisdom followed till he found 
Her secret chambers, where he told w^th tears 

The hope that led him to her sacred ground. 

She placed a crown of honor on his head, 

And touched his eyes, when lo, they opened wide; 

The dim vagaries of his youth had fled, 
And knowledge blossomed out on every side. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 43 



She led liim, weak and trembling, by the hand ; 

And showed him balm from bane and right from 

wrong. 
She sent him back unto his native land, 
With truth and trust and purpose to be strong. 

Canto II, Home 
0, home sweet home, we fondly cling to thee. 

Our memory you rivet to the past. 
The sun has set, tis dark, we scarce can see, 

And yet we cling to thee unto the last. 

The cheerful room at winter's somber eve. 

The fitful firelight from the blazing hearth, 
A darkened, cosy corner, I believe, 

To childhood is the dearest place on earth. 

To him, I sing, this feeling was denied. 

How could he love a home that welcomed not. 
Where no one spoke to praise, but all to chide. 

And food and clothes and toil was all he got. 

This boy was not a favored one at home. 
His parents' rich and elegant abode, 

A prison was from which he longed to roam. 
And shun the care, unwillingly bestowed. 

One day he left the mansion with a vow 

To ne'er return— no sighs, no tears, no slips— 

The crown of wisdom on his manly brow— 
The seal of truth eternal on his lips. 



44 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Canto III, The School Master 
There is no power on earth that can prevent 

The upward rise of a determined soul; 
And though the heart with sorrows may be rent, 

It will surmount them all and reach the goal. 

Environment can never check the growth, 
Nor dwarf the true development of mind; 

For knowledge and a reputation, both. 

Are common things, and he who seeks will find. 

How soon the boy becomes the lordly man ! 

And he, of whom I sing, has reached at last 
The true perfection of the maker's plan. 

With no regret that days of youth are past. 

A giant frame has he, for like the oak 

That battled with the wind and stronger grew^; 

He never bent beneath misfortune's stroke, 
But bravely faced each adverse wind that blew. 

The master of a public school is he. 

With plastic minds entrusted to his care; 

To shape and mould them as he'd have them be. 
In virtue strong, maganimous, and fair. 

For many years he labored to impart 

To other minds the knowledge he had gained; 

He loved his pupils and his mighty heart, 
Whene'er they went astray, was deeply pained. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 45 

His pupils loved and honored him as well. 

His word was law and seldom was defied; 
But when some haughty spirit did rebel, 

He won by kindness, never known to chide. 

Great Heart, how many tongues thy praises sing, 
In gratitude to thee for service done. 

0, does it not a thrill of pleasure bring, 
And cheer thee on thy way from sun to sun ? 

Canto IV, The Soldier 
The bravest heart that beats in human breast, 

The purest soul that unto man be known, 
Is oft by one of gentle mien possessed, 

A man who dares, if right, to stand alone. 

The clouds of war had overshadowed all. 

The bugle blast resounded through th^ sky; 
And volunteers by thousands, at the call, 

Went bravely forth to conquer or to die. 

And foremost was our hero in the ranks. 
That hastened forth to battle for the right ; 

And ever will our nation render thanks 

To those who bore ' ' old glory ' ' through the fight. 

The years of civil discord now are past, 

And harmony prevails throughout the land; 

Wliile gone are those contending armies vast, 
Except a small, gray-haired, decrepid band. 



46 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Canto V, Old Age 
The snow comes down upon the barren hill, 

And flake by flake it lays a mantle white 
'er all the earth, while gloomy, dark, and still, 

Descends the cold and dismal winter's night. 

As softly as the snow comes down to earth, 
Descends the flakes of time on moi;:tal brow; 

Yet, from the stormy hour that gave him birth, 
Our hero never felt their touch till now. 

The sky has cleared and in its bosom vast 
The stars are scintillating, pale and cold ; 

And argent fields, beneath their sickly light. 
Stretch far away to meet the ghostly wold. 

Tis thus the storms of passion disappear, 
The fire of youth in solemn ashes dies ; 

But still the heart is filled with goodly cheer. 
And over all are calm and starry skies. 

Great Heart, may many happy years be thine, 
To muse with satisfaction on the past; 

And may that power, omnipotent, divine. 
Recall thy soul to rich reward at last. 

Dedicated to Mr. E. G. Paul, Pisgah, la. 



48 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

LOVE AND HATE 

Mid darkness where the human eye 
No single object could descry, 

A midnight where the mortal mind 
Would be to earthly beauty blind — 
Still Love would dwell among mankind. 

Amid a world of purest light 

Unshadowed by the gloom of night, 

Where all the mortal ties that bind 
Man unto fellow man, we find — 
Still Hate would dwell among mankind. 

And so the two go side by side. 

Where Love has been, Hate may abide. 

To-day will frown, to-morrow smile, 

And friendship prove the cloak of guile. 
In every heart each dwells awhile. 



TRAITOR HAYES— A TALE OF THE PHILLIPINE 

WAR 

The Desertion 

In sad and gloomy thought, 

A U. S. soldier sat; 
And shared the common lot, 
Around the campfire hot, 

Upon a marshy flat. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 49 

Soon all his comrades sought 

Blest peace in slumber deep ; 
After a battle fought, 
And victory dearly bought, 

They, weary, sank to sleep. 

The hours crept slowly by. 

Until the rising moon 
Had throned herself on high, 
When with a heavy sigh, 

At night 's effulgent moon ; 

The lonely soldier rose. 

And thus he sadly mused : 
''Ah friends, how great my woes! 
My hand pledged to your foes ! 

I\Iy mind by love confused ! ' ' 

''How little did I think, 

When I left home afar, 
My fortune here to link 
With men who will not shrink 

From miseries of war." 

' ' That I this day would find 

Myself, pledged to desert 
My dear comrades so kind, 
And country's cause combined. 

To be the foes convert. ' ' 



50 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

' ' Although I know to-night 
That they are very wrong 

To trespass on the right 

Of patriots who fight 
For liberty so strong ; ' ' 

' * I feel it 's wrong to go, 

And leave my comrades here; 

For they may never know 

The reason I did so, 

And think, twas only fear, ' ' 

"The time is here! She waits! 

Ah, yes, I near forgot! 
The dnsky maiden waits. 
Who in my heart creates 

A wish to share her lot!'" 

"Goodbye to one and all. 

The mid-night hour is near; 
When I must give the call. 
And meet by yon tree tall. 
The one I love so dear." 

"When folks at home shall hear 

In just a few more days 
How I deserted here 
They'll execrate and jeer 

The name of Traitor Hayes." 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 51 

"And ever shall my name 

From History's brighter page, 
Be blotted out in shame, 
Although, the voiced ill-fame 

May circle down the age." 

The Battle — Hayes is Killed 

Slow rose night's somber pall. 

The cheery dawn of day 
Brought bitter strife for all, 
And valiant men did fall 

To ghastly death a prey. 

Upon the field of blood, 

The U. S. troops advanced. 
Hard struggling through the mud. 
And steeled against the flood 

Of fire that leapt and glanced. 

The foe still held their ground 
Wliile our ranks onward rushed. 

And at each thunderous sound. 

The dying fell around. 

The living forward pushed. 

Yet still they held before 

A strong commanding arm; 
Amid the battle-roar, 
As on the long day wore. 

He held life's mystic charm. 



52 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

The traitor in the strife, 

"With cool, inspiring power. 
Without a thought of life. 
Or newly wedded wife. 

Seemed in his strength, a tower ; 

Around him surged the tide 

And dashed the stormy sea. 
Whereon stern Death doth ride. 
When waves, incoming, hide 
Wreckage fearful to see. 

His arm was raised on high, 

His voice rang out command; 
But soon the hour drew nigh. 
When he was doomed to die. 
For a rebellious land. 

Upon the bloody field, 

He reeled; and when he fell, 
The fate of all was sealed. 
The others, forced to yield. 
Like cowards, fled pell-mell. 

Then echoed from the height. 
And forest old and gray. 
The victors' shouts of might. 
Who pressed on left and right 
To where Hayes wounded lay. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 53 

The soldiers slackened pace, 

And seeing him, they stopped; 
One stepped from out his place, 
Knelt, gazed into his face, 

Whom dead and wounded propped. 

Rising, the silence broke, 

"It is Traitor Hayes," he said. 
His former bunk-mate spoke. 
No mercy could revoke 

The sentence o'er his head. 

As if their thoughts were one. 

Their bayonets pierced him through; 

The bright face of the sun. 

Saw a career begun 

And end ere it passed from view. 

After the Battle— The Burial 
Tis the birth of the mid-night hour, 

The bewitching time of night. 
Tis the hand of a spirit power 
O'er the mountain's shadowy tower, 

That sheds o'er the valley, light. 

The battle is over and won. 

O'er the field, deserted and still, 
Comes no light from the flashing gun, 
Or day's bright herald, the sun. 

But from Luna o'er the hill. 



54 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

It lights up the faces of dead, 
Who in peaceful slumber lie. 
Neither hope nor the battle's dread, 
Makes restless their lowly bed ; 
For the dead no more can die. 

From the forest's gloomy recess, 
A darkening shadow steals. 

Out of the black void press 

Other figures in sable dress. 
That the monlight now reveals. 

Into the open field. 

Rich with the blood of the slain, 
Where Death's abundant yield. 
From scavengers unconcealed. 

Lay scattered about the plain; 

Comes darkly a sorrowful train. 
Robed in the weeds of night. 

To bury the Phillipine slain. 

Sorrow binds all with her chain. 
Love mourns her loss in the fight. 

Among that lamenting band 

Were fathers (prop of the race) 

And the brown little mother whose hand 

In that far Oriental land, 

On her babe's head had patted grace; 

And maidens, bright orient gems, 

With graceful forms, faces fair; 
The flowering human stems 
Of a race that fate condemns 
To an inglorious despair. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 55 

Of all the maidens there, 

One is the fairest by far. 
Her long, black tresses of hair, 
Flung loose to the breezy air, 

Her eyes, each a glowing star, 

Emit a sonl-light in the dark. 

Upon her beautiful face. 
Is seen grief's indelible mark. 
In her eyes a kindling spark 

Tells of early life gone apace. 

Apart from all the rest. 

She seeks, yet fears to find 
The one whom her true love had blest, 
The one who alone possessed 

The key to her heart and mind. 

From dread, she seeks relief. 

But there 'mid the slain he lies; 

And crazed by her trenchant grief. 

She sinks by her fallen chief 
With sobs and stifled cries. 

The Next Day— The Death Sacrifice 

When the day dawns bright and fair, 
A maid by our troops is found. 

Wild-eyed, with matted hair. 

Crouched like a tigress there, 

On the cold and blood-stained ground. 



56 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

When they from her clasp would take 

Her joy and her greatest hope, 
And the last earthly tie would break, 
Nor fain soothe the bitter ache. 

That marks grief's direful scope; 

She grasps from by his side, 
With a weird and piercing cry, 
A sword, the traitor's pride. 
And, plunging the blade so tried 
In her breast, sinks down to die. 

Now beauty and virtue repose. 
Wrapped in eternal embrace 
With one who would suffer woes. 
For love, proclaim as foes 

His friends, his kindred, and race. 



DAWN 

Dewy morn, with roseate blush. 

The robes of night casts off ; 
And mountains in the solemn hush. 
When 'er their heads the sun-beams rush, 

Their sable night-caps doff. 



TO A FALSE FRIEND 

Thou art my friend, still owned as yet. 
Although within the lingering past. 

There lurks a wrong I would fain forget — 
Whose shadow shall forever last. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 57 

Thou art a weak and erring man 
Wlio oft in paths of right falls down — 

No man can alter Heaven's plan, 
Or wear on earth an angel's crown; 

And though you wrong me and beguile, 

My tongue can utter no reproof ; 
Still I will greet you with a smile, 

And scorn to frown or hold aloof. 



ON AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, MAY, 1900 

The sun is bright, the sky is clear. 

No breezes stir the tall reeds near. 
The birds are flitting in the trees. 

Among the flowers are heard the bees. 
The fish are playing in the brook, 

AVhere lies the shining treacherous hook. 
The farm-yard fowl is with her brood, 

A-scratching for their daily food. 
The ducks are swimming on the stream 

Near which the poet loves to dream. 

But all at once there comes a change, 

For o'er the hills where cattle range. 
As if the coming of the night. 

When the sun descends from sight — 
In the sky no cloud is seen 

That from our eyes the sunbeams screen, 
But slowly o'er the orb of day, 

A shadow steals, the skies portray 
A vivid picture of the earth's last day 

When all then living shall pass away. 



58 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

The air is heavy, and damp and chill, 

And all is seemingly so still. 
Except for the common evening sound 

Of lowing cattle and baying hound. 
The cocks loud crow, the donkeys bray. 

And young birds nestle as at close of day. 
What a sublime scene is enacted there, 

When all the earth, so bright and fair. 
Is suddenly changed from day's bright light 
Into the chilly shades of night. 

Then suddenly a ray steals forth, 

Like a magic lantern flashed on earth. 
The shadow vanishes as it came 

Before Sol's reappearing flame, 
And from the misty spell of night. 

All is bathed in a flood of light. 
And as we ponder while we pause 

In wonder at these natural laws. 
Hushed is the infidel while we say, 

''God moves in a mysterious way." 



CHINA 

Is old China now dissolving, 
Has she reached her eventide. 

Will the age that's now revolving 
All her ancient glory hide? 

Is her patriarchal sun now setting. 
Will her old-time customs fade, 

Are her people now regretting 
Change this century has made? 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 59 

Is the angel of death now hovering 

'er the land prophesied of yore 
To become a nation governing 

Those whose oppressions once she bore ? 

No, she is not dead but slumbering, 

Dreaming dreams of ancient rule. 
While the God of Destiny's numbering 

The years to her prophetic goal. 

As the civilized world, advancing. 
Touches her old oriental sphere, 
There will a new nation rise, enhancing, 
Grasp a flag and raise a cheer. 



THE STAR'S MIRROR. 

Over the edge of our boat that is floating. 
Look, dearest, look, dearest, look! 

Still is the summer night. 

Smooth are the waters bright. 
Into their mirror white. 

Glistering stars of the heaven are gloating, 
Look, dearest, look, dearest, look! 

Night is arrayed in her jewelry gairish, 

See, dearest ! See, dearest, see ! 
Out from a patch of blue. 
How the stars wink at you, — 
Maybe, they seek to woo. 
Beautiful picture an artist would cherish. 
See dearest ! See dearest, see ! 



GO LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Stars are your eyes and my bosom their mirror, 
Look, dearest! Look, dearest, look! 

Shows it the mind above? 
Read then in the secret of 
My fiercely burning love 

For thee, and know that no one could be dearer. 
Look, dearest! Look, dearest, look! 



THE BLUE-JAY 

With a back of brightest blue. 

And a crest of purplish hue. 
And a breast of grayish color with a darker stain or two ; 

Did you ever hear him say, 

As he wings his sky-ward way, 
With a sort of boastful accent, ' ' I 'm the Jay, Jay, Jay ! ' ' 

Oh, you think, he'd feel some shame 
To be shouting out his name 
Every morn and every evening flying twixt the earth and 
sky; 
But he's really not to blame — 
Even people seek for fame. 
Showing twice as much importance, without mounting half 
as high. 

When his mate has built a nest, 

He will proudly raise his crest. 
As he seeks within the forest on some callow young to prey ; 

But it's really not a sin. 

If he takes the young birds in. 
Since it's only for the sustenance of infant birdie, jay. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 61 

When the young have taken wing, 

You will hear them try to sing, 
For the child will sure inherit all the parents' boastful way ; 

And they ever will proclaim, 

For the parent did the same. 
Every morn and every evening, ''I'm the Jay, Jay, Jay!" 

BLIND 

As the world would be enveloped 

In the gloom of endless night. 
If the sun and moon in heaven 

Were forbade to shed their light. 
So the mind of man that yearneth 

For the beauty of the world. 
And the waking dream of knowledge. 

Is in utter darkness hurled. 
When the orbs of vision closing 

Leaves a dim and sightless mind. 
And one hears the world about him 

In its pity whisper, ''blind!" 

Oh, the dreary, cheerless future. 

When the blinded eyes must gaze 
Through a rayless, starless midnight. 

In the brightest, sunny days ; 
When the trembling hand extended 

Feels its strange, uncertain way, 
And in fortune's dire mutation, 

One has learned again to pray ; 
When the hills and stream and forest, 

When the mead and flowery heath. 
Have for him no charm or pleasure. 

And the world seems drear as death. 



62 LYRICS OF LEISURE 



Worshippers at shrines of ]\Iammon, 

To which goal would you attain, 
Where the orbs of Faith and Virtue 

Never set and never wane; 
Where the splendor of the sunlight 

And the cloudless evening blend, 
With its moonlight and its starlight, 

And its blue sky without end — 
Or a realm where eyes are useless, 

By the blackest night confined. 
And a spirit in the darkness. 

Seems to softly whisper, ''blind." 



THE FIRST SNOW-STORM 

When leaves are shed and birds have fled. 

And skies are gray o'erhead, 0, 
When in their bed the flowers are dead 

On hill and heath and meadow ; 
The frozen North to Avinds gives birth 

To freeze the tears of Autumn ; 
And lo, they all in snow-flakes fall 

O'er upland, vale and bottom. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 63 

THE SPIRIT OF THE STORM 

There is a spirit flies before the storm, 

Borne on invisible, electric wings, 
Touching the hearts of men with strange alarm, 

Waking the instinct of all living things. 

Behold the kittens playing in the yard. 

The dog that skulks more closely by your side, 

The colts that race upon the meadow sward, 
The birds that under swaying branches hide. 

I read within their eyes the same wild dread. 
That glistens darkly in the human eye. 

When howls the wind and breaks the storm o'erhead, 
While lightning flashes cross the blackened sky. 

The ignorant and superstitious mind 

That long ago beheld the storm's display. 

And sought the causes of its power to flnd. 
To visionary terrors was a prey. 

But science, with a vision keen and clear. 

Has pierced the clouds and by the lightning 's glare, 

Not blinded by a reverential fear. 

Has read the truths of nature written there. 

We watch approach the storm cloud's ragged form. 
We hear the panting of the racing wind; 

And catch the warning spirit of the storm 
That tells of an omnipotence behind. 



6i LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Nor all the wisdom science can impart 
Dispels our gloom, but silent, overawed, 

We watch the glowing, fiery serpents dart, 
And listen to the trnmpetings of God. 



DANDY-LION AND SWEET VIOLET 

In a field of grass and clover first they met, 

Golden Dandy-Lion and Sweet Violet. 
Twas in early days of spring 
When the birds npon the wing 
Made the fields and woodlands ring 
With the songs of love they sing. 
That he wooed the charming, dark-blue-eyed coquette. 

Oh, the balmy breeze of April as it sped 

Whispered to me what the Dandy-Lion said. 
' ' Tell me why, 0, tell me why, 
There's a tear within your eye. 
Every night and' every morn. 
Ere the rosy day is born, 
And the reason v.hy you hang your lovely head. ' ' 

Then she answered thus the Dandy-Lion gay: 
* ' I 'm so plain, I grow unnoticed by the way, 
But you wear a golden crown. 
And I bow in worship down. 
And the teardrops that I shed 
Are for you," she softly said — 
And the Dandy-Lion spread each golden ray. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 65 

But the Dandy-Lion, thirsting for her praise, 

Spoke again before the lapse of many days: 
'' Violet, sweet violet. 

When the burning sun has set. 
Still your eye with tears is wet, 
Violet, sweet violet, 
Do you weep because he hides his cheerful blaze?" 

By this time the season had advanced in IMay, 

And the Dandy-Lion's head was turning gray. 
So she said : ' ' Tis for the bee 
That this morning flew to me. 
And delightedly did sip 

All the sweetness from my lip, 
Then he left me all alone and flev\' away." 



A MODERN SAMSON 

The shadow of the future of our mighty nation lies 

A strange and startling silhouette depicted on our skies, 

Tiie phantom of a feeing of colossal build and mind. 
The phantom of a Samson, for behold his eyes are blind. 

He stands among the pillars in the temple of the world. 
Where flags of many nations are so boastingly unfurled. 

By the sun of glory blinded, he perceives no flag of peace. 
By taunts of rivals maddened does his swelling wrath in- 
crease. 



66 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

I see him grasp the pillars in a firm and wild embrace. 
I see the great veins swelling on his flushed and angry 
face. 
The temple sways above him, and a wind of shrieks and 
moans 
Sweeps through the mighty structure from a hundred 
trembling thrones. 

The coluimis break assunder! In an awful moment more, 
The mighty dome collapses with an earthquake and a roar 

AVhere stood the noble Samson in his arrogance and pride, 
Are ruins heaped on ruins. Thus the blinded giant died. 

You say this is the substance of a nightmare or a dream. 
Behold our Avealth of JMammon and sword of victory 
gleam. 
Our men of war are sailing upon every restless sea. 
Wherever waves our banner, swells the anthem of the 
free. 

It is a dream, my country, but it leaves a waking thought, 
Of principles of government for which our fathers 
fought. 

Let us scorn the words prophetic of the evil yet to be, 
But show eternal vigilance, the price of liberty. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 6 

TO THE SWALLOW 

0, white-bellied swallow! 0, twittering swallow! 
Outspeeding the breezes that after thee follow, 
As over the hill-top and down in the hollow, 
Thou dartest away: 
Does never the world seem a trifle too drearj^. 
Are never your little wings heavy and weary. 
Do never you utter a t\\itter less cheery 
Through all the long day? 

Pray where will you rest when the night has descended. 
And where will you go when the summer is ended, 
For surely in winter's cold blast, undefended, 
You'd suffer and die? 
But never a word for an answer gave swallow. 
As over the hill-top and down in the hollow , 
It darted away and my eyes could not follow, 
So swift did it fly. 

The darkness of night soon enfolded the valley, 
But still on the hill did the soft breezes dalley. 
And red-crested Mars did his star-legions rally 
In silence profound. 
On wings like the swallows the moments departed 
And tears to the eyes irrepressible started, 
And left me alone and, alas, heavy-hearted 
To seek lower ground. 



68 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

TO AN ORGANIST 
Let thy snowy fingers, woman, rest a moment on the keys, 
For my spirit grieves within me like the sighing of a 
breeze 
And the tender strains of music that thy flitting hands 
awake, , 
Rising, sinking, undulating, as their rh}i:hmic course 
they take 
On my heart so heavy -burdened, with a dull and painful 
shock, 
Now are breaking, breaking, breaking, like the waves up- 
on the rock. 

What there is in human beings that responds to music's 
flow, 
What there is that sympathizes, none is privileged to 
know ; 
But there is something strangely mystic in the rapture- 
breathing spell. 
When the soul is borne to heaven on the music 's ebb and 
swell 
Or the head is bowed in anguish and the heart is filled with 
pain, 
As the joyful measure changes to a melancholy strain. 

Let thy snowy fingers, w^oman, w^ander o'er the keys again, 
Till they seem to speak this comfort to the fainting hearts 
of men. 
There is happiness unbounded, there is joy for all in store. 
Who are faithful and awarded on the bright and shining 
shore 
Of the everlasting kingdom, and the angel choir will know 
What there is in human beings that responds to music's 
flow. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 69 

MY ARAMANTHUS (A Daij-Dream) 

A barren spot upon the earth, 

A rocky, desert place, 
Gave thy unequaled beauty birth 

To bless the human race. 

Deep darkness girt it round about 

With mists so dank and drear, 
It seemed life's warmth had all gone out 

Upon a dead faith's bier. 

But from the lips of love one day 

Arose a little prayer. 
The missive hurried on its way 

Upon the startled air. 

God heard the little earnest voice 

And turned His head to look ; 
And thus a land was made His choice, 

Which once His love forsook. 

His gaze dispelled the cloud of night. 

The tears of joy He shed, 
Fell with His smiles of golden light 

On those in Faith once dead. 

He took from out His mighty heart 

The seed of truest love — 
The acme of creative art — 
Borne by a snow white dove 

Was planted on that desert spot. 

And now a floweret blows; 
The Master's blest for-get-me-not, 

The poet's hill-side rose. 



70 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 




Brown-Eyes 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 71 

BROWN-EYES 

I am thinking of thee, 0, my darling, to-day, 
In a far-away land where my weary feet stray ; 

And in memory now I endeavor to trace 
Each lineament of thy beautiful face; 

But of all the bright visions that fondly arise. 

There is none half so dear as those dreamy brown eyes. 

I have seen the blond hair and the lily-white hands 
Of the maidens from cold Scandinavian, lands. 

Whose eyes are a tender and heavenly hue. 

Like stars shining down through our canopy blue; 

But I care not for them and my sad spirit sighs 

For the love-light that lies in those dreamy brown eyes. 

The tropic brunette so entrancingly fair, 
With olive complexion and long raven hair, 

Whose eyes have the depth and the blackness of night 
And shed on their captive an amorous light — 

My heart all the power of their magic defies. 

But yields to the charm of those dreamy brown eyes. 

0, where did those eyes get their magnetic gleam 
That often has held me as bound in a dream? 

Is it only the light of a sancitified soul 

That was given to comfort and bless and condole ? 

Perhaps they have drawn from the stars in the skies 
Their wonderful luster — those dreamy brown eyes. 



72 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

0, darling, the hope I am cherishing now — 

The realization of our holy vow 
To some day be one — is a beam that I caught, 

As if it were but a reflection of thought, 
Shining forth at the window of my paradise — 

Those beautiful, lovable, dreamy, brown eyes. 



ODE TO SUMMER 

Her nakedness clad in a gown of red roses, 
Embroidered with lilies in colors so fair ; 

Within our green valley, now summer reposes. 
And never was beauty with hers to compare. 

Her breath, as it floats on the wings of the breezes. 
Is freiglited with odors of flowers and fruits ; 

The birds furnish carols whenever she pleases, 

And winds through the reeds make the music of flutes. 

The day lingers long with its warmth and its splendor. 
The evening delays with its shadows so cool ; 

The hearts of the youth and the maiden grow tender, 
And willingly yield unto Cupido's rule. 

O, Summer, thou virgin, whose bright golden tresses 
Are floating again on. the soft, balmy air ; 

With visions of love and with fancied caressess, 
Of welcome, I give you a bountiful share. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 73 

THE MAGICAL LYRE 

As it resting, sings, with its dainty wings 

Aglow with a sunlit fire — 
Have you ever heard from the warbling bird 

The tale of the magical lyre? 
Neath the leafy hood of the wildest wood 

This musical instrument lies ; 
In a secret nook by a roving brook, 

Tis hid from all wondering eyes. 
By the Sy Ivans made, by the breezes played. 

Its music is melody sweet; 
And birds, everywhere, go to listen there. 

And its ravishing strains repeat. 
From a hundred trees, from the friendly bees 

Was gathered the wood and glue 
For the fabric fair, while a maiden's hair 

Made strings of a golden hue. 
When the winter's o'er, at the open door. 

We welcome the glorious spring ; 
And in joyful praise of her sunny days, 

The warblers continually sing. 
Then the flitting throngs learn their matin songs 

From Zephyrus, wind of the west, 
Who sweeps the lyre in a wild desire 

To captivate Spring, our guest. 
When the summer smiles through the woodland wilds 

The haunts of the venturesome boy. 
And thrilling notes from the countless throats 

Gush forth with extatic joy. 
Tlien remember how, neath a leafy bough, 

This musical instrument lies — 
In a secret nook by a roving brook, 

And hid from all wondering eyes. — 1902. 



74 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

THE DREAM OF OLD AGE 

Tis night and bright is Luna's light 

'er fields of tasseled corn ; 
As o'er I soar on pinions hoar 

The place where I was born. 

The trees like seas when blows a breeze, 

Wave neath the moonlit sky; 
And ' ' home, sweet home, ' ' as wild winds roam, 

They say with many a sigh. 

The glow and flow with rythm slow 

Of memory 's sweetest strain, 
Reveals and steals from aught conceals 

Blest childhood's sweet refrain. 

Green hills, clear rills, the picture fills. 

In colors bright and true; 
The stream whose gleam in youth 's fond dream 

Seemed of a brighter hue. 

Once more birds pour their songs of yore 

Into my listening ear — 
The shrill sweet trill from every hill 

Imports to all good cheer. 

Sweet flowers, leaf -bowers, and sacred hours 

Of joy with nature spent. 
Come back from black void space aback, 

Though I am aged and bent. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 75 

No light to sight unveils the night 

That shadows land and sea ; 
Night's star afar, moon's silver bar, 

Has formed a cross for me. 

When we with glee ourselves there see 

Again as roving boys, 
We grieve to leave and undeceive 

Such untold childish joys. 

Old age that stage of the gray haired sage 

Encounters bitter pain. 
The brave world's slave who nears the grave 

Sees earthly things are vain. 

There's not I wot that can be bought 

With beauty, rank or wealth, 
Like the gay, free way, child's gleesome play, 

And ruddy glow of health. 



A LETTER 

It is only a letter I hold in my hand 

And the writing is dainty and plain. 
But its dear little message — who could understand 

The tears that the white pages stain! 

Does it tell of a sorrow that touches the heart. 

Or of losses too heavy to bear? 
Of hopes that are shattered? Of friends that depart 

To a haven unburdened by care? 



76 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

The tears that are shed are the nectar of joy, 
And the message it bears is as sweet 

As the heavenly music the angels employ 
At the foot of the mercy seat. 

For it tells of a love that is spotless and true, 
Of a heart that beats daily for me ; 

Of a maiden that waits in the shadow and dew^ 
For her lover from over the sea. 



MODERN FAITH 

Young Johnnie longed for Christmas time 
When surely Santa Glaus would come. 

With sleigh-bells' chime and joys sublime, 
And bring to him a bran new drum. 

He tagged his pa where e'er he went 
From peep of dawn to close of day. 

And teased to know if Santa sent 
Big drums for little boys to play. 

When papa scolded him for this, 
He sought his ma with tearful eye. 

She soothed him with a tender kiss. 
Till by and by he ceased to cry. 

''Now Johnnie dear," his mamma said, 
You'll surely get your heart's desire. 

If, when to-night you go to bed, 
You pray for it ere you retire." 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 77 

Soon Johnnie's pa relented all 

The scolding that he gave his son, 
And on the toy store made a call 

And bought a drum, a costly one. 

When Johnnie sought his bed that night, 
Pa stood behind the half-closed door 

With drum in hand, concealed from sight, 
Until his son knelt on the floor. 

His chubby hands were clasped in prayer. 

His curly head was humbly bowed, 
And while he knelt so meekly there 

He closed his eyes and prayed aloud. 

''As now I lay me do^^n to sleep, 
I want a drum, I want a drum ! 

I pray the Lord my soul to keep, 
I want a drum, I want a drum! 

"If I should die before I wake, 

I want a drum, I want a drum! 
I pray the Lord my soul to take, 

I want a drum, I want a drum." 

"Now Jesus bless both me and ma, 

I want a drum, I want a drum 1 
And don't forget to bless my pa, 

I want a drum, I want a drum." 

"Then, also, bless old Santa Claus, 

I want a drum, I want a drum 1 
And give him lots of things, because — 

Amen, I want a drum, a drum! ! 



78 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Meanwhile his pa with deepest " love 
Had listened to him half ashamed; 

And slipping in, he hung above 

His head the pretty gift he claimed. 

When Johnnie raised his sleepy head 
And saw the shining, bran-new drum, 

He looked and stared and then he said, 
''Well, where the hell did that come from? 



TWO WORDS 

Two words sped away on two missions one day, — 
One bouyant with praise, one burdened with blame. 

They brooked no dela}^ ; not a tongue bade them stay ; 
One gilded with glory, one tarnished a name. 

One came from the lips with a fervor and glow 

That showed the heart glad of the message it brought ; 

One came in a whisper, contemptible, low. 
By the ears of a confidant eagerly caught. 

One journeyed alone — Truth forever is brave — 
With censure and ridicule dogging its track ; 

But every lie is a cowardly knave. 

With its brother, apology, close at its back. 

From home unto home, from friend unto friend, 
From table to street corner, market, and hall; 

0, when will discussion and gossiping end, 

For those two wing'ed words have been harbored by all. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 79 

And these are the sources whence they were derived: 
A heart that is holy, compassionate, pure ; 

That every tempest of life has survived 

And gathered new beauty, new strength to endure. 

A heart that draws worshippers as to a shrine, 
That can through the mask of depravity see 

The finger prints left by a workman divine, 
And dreams that it hears the creative decree. 

Another heart poisoned by venomous thought, 
Where envy, forebodings, suspicions abide; 

Where sin long in secret its havoc hath wrought, 
Till the soul's sanctuary is left vilified. 

And this is the cause of the kindly report, — 

A life long engaged in a vain enterprise 
Till held by the world as an. object of sport ; 

Denounced as a dreamer, unfruitful, unwise. 

The dreamer at last the glad message receives ; 

The sympathy, kindness, for which he has sighed — 
No longer his spirit in solitude grieves, 

But he faces the world in the strength of his pride. 

Then fired with new purpose, inspired with new zeal, 
He gives to the world an immortal design; 

And adds unto scoffing humanity 's weal 
A measureless portion^ a blessing divine. 

While this is the cause of the evil report — 
A fondling of fortune ennobled by birth; 

To whom wealth and learning and beauty paid court ; 
Who towered o'er his fellows, a prince of the earth. 



80 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

The evil word comes to society's king 

Witli all of its bitterness, anguish, and gall; 

And the prince of the earth's a despicable thing. 

While the world seems to grimace and gloat o'er his fall. 

His long buried sin, in an unguarded hour 
Gave birth to suspicion in some evil heart ; 

And there envy nourished it till it had power 
To burst from its bondage and bid gossip start. 

One word has a monument, noble sublime, — 
A life it has crowned with a worthy success, 

Reflecting its light down the cycles of time, 
All future descendants to comfort and bless. 

The other word perished mid wreckage and woe, 
The grave of ambition and insolent pride ; 

But which of the two will you, pray, let me know, 
Had the spirit of Him who on Cavalry died ? 



THE GOLDEN CALF 

In pensive mood again I tune the lyre 

Whose strings unstruck since youthful passion died. 
Still vibrate with a pure celestial fire ; 

And when the tumults of the breast subside. 
They teach the yearning heart to dare aspire 

To higher things than here on earth abide. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 81 

I place my hand upon the Holy Book 

Where lips of eloquence still plead with men ; 

And as the Saviour's touch and pitying look 
Once bade the sealed lips ope and speak again, 

No heathen muse, but Shepherd 's staff and crook 
Invites my lay; inspires my modest pen. 

The world is Avaxen old and Time is gray. 

The night of sin has spread its darkness wide. 
The leader of God's people, far away, 

Is lost in clouds upon the Mountain side. 
And yet there glimmers promise of the day. 

Of His return. Who will that day abide? 

Ten-thousand-thousand sanctuaries stand 
With open doors to bid all men come in, 

And hear again the lowly Christ's command 
To follow Him and drop their loads of sin; 

Receive the sure salvation He has planned. 
And learn than man and man and God are kin. 

Yet all unheeded swell the anthems loud. 

And unavailing plead the men of God. 
With ears that hearing, hear not, still the crowd 

Goes lightly by, irreverant and unawed; 
While o'er the mountain-top the ominous cloud 

Of God's great wrath descendeth like a shroud. 

Within the vale of Mammon, lo, there stands 

An emblem of the World's apostacy; 
A golden idol shaped by impious hands, 

And raised aloft where none may fail to see ; 
While there the rich and pov»'erful of all lands 

Bow down to earth and crook the suppliant knee. 



§2 LYRICS OF LEISURE 



AVhat hope shall be for you, 0, thoughtless throng, 
When from the height Jehovah 's voice shall sound 

Like thunder peals reverberating long, 

Till earth shall quiver and upon the ground 

Man's prided structures builded firm and strong 
Shall ruined lie in shapeless heaps around! 

What can ye hope ? Will God again redeem 
A wayward people with a Saviour 's blood ? 

Or will He come in semblance of a dream 
To bid you build an ark to stem the flood? 

I see the sword of the avenging angel gleam, 
And meteor-like descend with racking thud. 



0, Ruler of the Universe, we pray 

That even yet may mercy conquer wrath, 

And for a season bid the avenger stay. 

Nor wreak on earth the threatened direful scath; 

Till man forsake the broad and easy way 

To tread Salvation's straight and narrow path. 



THE OPTIMIST 

In this world of care and trouble, 
Often life a burden seems. 

When our hope's a bursted bubble, 
And unrealized our dreams. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 83 

Few will smile for most would rather 

Turn away the head and weep, 
While the lines of sorrow gather 

On the brow in furrows deep. 

But the man of sterling mettle 

Who can smile at any hour, 
Though he plucks a stinging nettle 

When he means to pluck a flower — 

Who forgetful of affliction. 

Can a weaker friend assist, 
With a brother's true affection — 

Is a noble optimist. 

Though the path of life be weary. 
Brambles pierce the pilgrim's feet. 

Let thy countenance be cheery. 
And thy conversation, sweet. 

Though confronted by temptation, 

While the devil lies in wait. 
Scorn him; and, whate'er your station, 

Envy not the proud and great. 

He who sees the joy and beauty 

Of each passing hour and day, 
And delights to do his duty 

As he journeys on the way — 

Who arises if he stumbles. 

And all evil dares resist — 
Who a haughty spirit humbles — 

Is a noble optimist. 



g4 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Life has thorns as well as roses, 
Sunlit hours and hours of shade, 

And the bed where death reposes 
Has for all alike been made. 

Since the man who's always cheerful, 
Even Heaven, will assist, 

Wliat's the use of being tearful? 
Wh}^ not be an optimist? 



LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY 

They say a coward must he be 

Who for his passion dares to die. 

But, in my own philosophy, 
I cannot see the reason, why. 

Behold the spider and her mate. 

Who in a conjugal embrace 
Must meet for love his certain fate. 

And thus perpetuate the race. 

0, moralist, observe the drone 
Among the bees within the hive. 

That must perpetuate its own. 
Though knowing it cannot survive. 

But man, above all creatures blest 

In wisdom and the power of thought, 

Though sick of life and sore distressed. 
Must live and suffer, and for what? 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 85 

The hope of heaven, fear of hell? 

Tis vain delusion after all. 
Or does the dread of death repel, 

Or thought of greiving friends appal? 

0, heart of mine, why should you beat, 

When she I love will listen, not? 
Why live a life so incomplete. 

When, dying, all would be forgot ? 

The brows of those I love, awhile 

Would darkened be by sorrow's cloud, 

But soon would brighten with a smile. 
Soon glow with bursts of laughter loud. 

Some lover, weary of the throng, 

Of city life, might wander where 
The flowers and the grasses long 

Bedeck the grave of my despair. 

And pausing for awhile to gaze 
Upon the marble stained with time, 

That tells a tale of other days, 

IMight read thereon this simple rhyme: 

' ' He lived and loved, but could not win. 
His heart was filled with lasting pain; 

And so he deemed it not a sin 
To die for love he could not gain." 



gQ LYRICS OP LEISURE 

A WITHERED ANEMONE 

I send, my Florence dear, to thee 
A withered rue anemone. 
An orphan of departed spring, 
That may to thee a message bring. 
The leaves have lost their chlorophyll. 
Once gleaned from sunshine on the hill. 
The blue that then its petals dyed, 
AVhen blooming in its virgin pride, 
Has left no trace; but white with age, 
And moulded by the cruel page, 
It long has lain within a book, 
I shared with you and then forsook. 
When gladsome May with welcome voice 
Had bade the hearts of youth rejoice, 
I wandered, Florence dear, with you, 
And happily the moments flew, 
By Sager's lake, upon the hill, 
In visions bright we wander still. 
Beneath the shade of some old tree 
That tlirew it shadows over thee, 
I found this modest, lovely flower. 
And plucked it in that happy hour. 
0, Florence, dear, my eyes are wet, 
But not with sorrow or regret. 
A fairer flower was at my side, 
And blooming in her virgin pride. 
I plucked thee too, my heart of gold, 
With joy that never can be told, 
0, Heart of Gold, the seasons fly. 
The flowers of nature fade and die. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 87^ 

The winds are keen, the sky is gray, 

And murky night succeeds the day; 

But, thou, I know still fairer bloom. 

In winter's reign of ice and gloom. 

And keepest thy love and sweets for me 

When withered is the anemone. 

0, Heart of Gold, the time will come, 

When bees again o'er blossoms hum, 

Wlien birds are calling far and near, 

And all things tell us spring is here. 

0, then I hope once more to roam, 

When spring has called thee from thy home, 

Beside thee, darling, by the lake. 

And watch the early flowers awake. 

Poem, accompanying a pressed rue anemone, 
in a letter to Mrs. Bassctt, 1908. 



HAIL, FLAG OF OUR NATION! 

In days of my boyhood. 

How often with joy would 
My heart throb at mention of those who had fought 

For Liberty's banner, 

'Gainst lords of the manor. 
Till out of this land a Republic was wrought. 

Be honor unbounded 

To heroes who sounded 
The heralding trumpet of freedom again 

To slaves who were pleading. 

Till shattered and bleeding, 
The Union was saved by these brave hearted men. 



gg LYRICS OP LEISURE 

By meadow and river, 

In woodland where shiver 
The trees in the breath of the wild winter wind ; 

O'er mountain and valley, 

Where soft breezes dally, 
"Wherever I wander but freedom, I find. 

Hail, flag of our nation, 

Tis freedom 's creation ! 
The spirit of Heaven is caught in its folds ; 

And long wave that banner, 

Till breezes that fan her. 
Shall waft it where tyrrany, revelry holds. 

—January, 7, 1904. 



THE HUSKERS. 

In the hush and the flush of the bitter winter morning, 
Hear the sound, all around, of the rooster's early warning. 
At the wan, freezing dawn, that the brightest star is 

blurring. 
O'er the ground, frozen sound, hear the wagon wheels 
awhirring. 
In the dusk, how they husk out the corn of red and yellow, 
Till the night's vanished quite and the east begins to 
mellow. 
On the board now the hoard of the ripened corn is 

ringing. 
With a bang and a whang and the husker loud is 
singing. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 89 

Like a dream is the beam of the lazy sun that rises 
'er the hills, yet he thrills, for its smile the husker prizes. 
As the day wears away and the shades of evening gather, 
Home they go, tired and slow, yet they thank a gracious 
Father 
For the corn and the morn and the sunny day that followed, 
Till the night all the light in her gloomy maw has swal- 
lowed. 
Ye are blest, buskers, rest, till another day is breaking, 
And a crow o 'er the snow, says the chanticleer is waking. 



THE SPECTRAL CANOE 

Let me sing, inspiring Goddess, of a weird and mystic lake, 

Lying in the evening shadow of a border range of hills ; 
AVhere the soughing, wind-lashed waters at their base for- 
ever break. 
While along the thickly wooded shore are heard the whip- 
poor Avills 

Softly sighing, 
Loudly moaning. 
Sobbing, groaning, 
Quickly dying. 
Goes the wind of summer wailing through the w^oods along 
the shore ; 

Bounding, coursing, 
Onw^ard speeding, 
Nothing heeding. 
Swiftly forcing 
Througli the stormy waves a spectral bark goes gliding on 
before. 



90 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

In the years that long have vanished in the dim uncertain 
past, 
By this broad expanse of water was a bloody battle 
fought ; 
And the shouts and shrieks of conflict rank across its bos- 
om vast, 
From opposing bands of redmen while the fight was rag- 
ing hot. 

When the strife at last was over, in the twilight and the 
dew, 
Still and lifeless but unconquered, lay unnumbered fal- 
len braves; 
There were warriors of the Omahas and warriors of the 
Sioux, 
And the victors made upon the hills for them as many 
graves. 

But among them fell a chieftan, honored more than all the 
rest. 
And they heavy-hearted bore him where the waters dash 
and break, 
There, in silence, did they place him in his beads and blank- 
ets dressed, 
In a bark canoe and launched it on the dark and dismal 
lake. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 91 

Softly sighing, 

Loudly moaning, 

Sobbing, groaning. 

Quickly dying, 
Went the wind of summer wailing through the woods along 
the shore ; 

Bounding, coursing, 

Onward speeding. 

Nothing heeding, 

Swiftly forcing 
Through the stormy waves the Indian's bark went gliding 
on before. 

Many years have since departed and the Indians are gone 
From their hunting grounds among the hills and by the 
Avooded shore. 

But still the chief tan 's bark canoe goes gliding on and on 
In, the twilight with its burden as it did in days of yore. 

If you linger when the evening breeze begins to gently 
blow, 
And the brightest stars in heaven just begin to glim- 
mer bright. 
Near the margin of the lake, you will believe my words 
when, lo! 
A spectral bark goes gliding through the falling shades 
of night. 



92 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

THE DANCE 
Somewhere a meeting enlivens the town. 

See the young couples that stroll up and down 
Under the star-beaming mantle of night ; 

Hear on the stillness the laugh of delight. 
Seek they the house and the worship of God? 

Seek they the power of the chastening rod? 
" No " in the answer and " no " in the glance, 

Promenade-all for the grand elite-dance. 
If that the purpose, if that the place. 

Hide sun of virtue thy shame-blushing face. 

Why are the eyes of the maiden so bright ? 

Why is the step of the stripling so light ? 
Ask it of them who are longing to rest 

Arm linked in arm and with breast unto breast. 
Now speaks the fiddle in rapturous strains 

And what a flutter of hearts and of brains; 
For at the summons the dancers are seen, 

Gay as the children that romp on the green. 
Whirling about in a dizzy embrace — 

Hide sun of virtue thy shame blushing face. 

Surely the thoughts of the maiden are chaste 

While the strong arm that encircles her waist 
Wanders at will in the maddening whirl. 

Pure are the thoughts of the dancing girl ! 
What if the arm of the youth presses tight ! 

Only snug closer and all will be right. 
Nerves all at tension and faces aglow, 

Floating away on the music's flow, 
Whirling about with angelical grace, 

Hide sun of virtue thy shame blushing face. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 93 



Young man of morals, 0, can you behold 

Her whom you prize more than coffers of gold, 
Close in the arms of another caressed, 

With motion suggestive and breast unto breast? 
Husband and lover, 0, can you allow 

The wife of your bosom by conjugal vow 
Thus to be fondled while passion excites 

Thoughts only sacred to love's bridal nights? 
Maiden and matron, forego the disgrace, 

Or hide sun of virtue thy shame-blushing face. 



94 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 




Little Sioux Public School 
' How oft I 've heard that school bell ring, ' ' page 20 




Catholic Church, Little Sioux, la. 
* ' Sacred to the memory of days gone by, ' ' page 95 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 95 

THE FORSAKEN ALTAR 

All places that the eye of heaven visits are to a wise 
man ports and havens. —William Shakespeare. 

Sacred to the memory of days gone by, 

Lit with sunset glory from the western sky, 

Lifting higher heavenward the cross to which we pray, 
Brighter with a halo from the smile of parting day, 

Stood a church forsaken by the saintly throng. 

Where a thousand voices once awoke the praise of song. 

Silence reigned around it like the realm of death. 

Through its shuttered windows crept the wild flowers 
breath 
Softly, sweetly, sadly, from its gabled roof did float 

^lelancholy music in the turtle-dove's low note ; 
While it sat symbolical of love that's fled. 

Brooding as in sorroAV for a slumbering faith or dead. 

Church of God, why standest thou to mock my grief ! 

Robbed of all thy virtue by old time, grim thief. 
Edifice triumphant o'er the spoil of many years. 

Art thou but a monument of wasted sighs and tears? 
May thy living faith upon thee flame at last, 

0, forsaken altar of a generation past ! 

Open up thy portal, let a pean ring. 

Till in solemn chorus will the angels sing ! 

Let the aisles resoundant with the tread of many feet. 
Feel its burdens tremble at thy glowing shrine to meet ; 

Who with rapture gazing in the master's face 

Render thanks to Heaven for the blessing of His grace. 



96 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

THE SONG OF THE ANGELS. 

Deep in empyreal spaces of light, 

Rolls a melodious music to-night. 
Voices celestial, singing, I hear, 

To the harmonical roll of the sphere. 
This, the angelical pean of praise, 

Best of poetical, sweetest of lays. 

Chorus: "Low in a manger, 

Lieth a stranger. 
Hallow the morn. 
For Christ is bom, 
And, by His birth, 
Hath, once again. 
Brought peace on earth. 
Good will to men." 

See, over Bethelem shineth a star, 
Bright as a glistering helmet of war! 
Tis an ephemeral symbol of One, 

Reigning forever, outshining the sun. 
Hear the angelical pean of praise. 

Ringing sonorous through Heaven's broad ways. 
Chorus: 

Long as eternity's seasonless age. 

Written in flame o'er the heavenly page, 

Shall that untarnished and beautiful name 
Be seen, while the angels in chorus proclaim 

Through infinite realms to the planets that move 
In praise to the mighty Creator, they love. 
Chorus: 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 97 

THE BITTER-SWEET 

Only a spray of bitter-sweet ! 

Only a stolen kiss! 
Heavenly Muse, wilt thou repeat 

The amorous tale of bliss ! 

Only a hasty, angry word, 

And, with its pure delight, 
Love, like a gay, inconstant bird, 

Taketh again its flight ! 

Only bitterness left behind ! 

Only a broken heart! 
Heavenly Muse, if thou art kind. 

Sing but the blissful part. 

Brightly, the winter sun arose. 

And to the eye disclosed 
That underneath repeated snows 

Valley and hill reposed. 

Round a hill by a winding way. 

Out in the biting air, 
Arm in arm do the lovers stray, 
" A youth, a maiden fair. 

Close by the path, a sapling grew, 
Stripped by the north-wind bare; 

Glowing still with a ruddy hue, 
A vine clung stoutly there. 



98 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Berries red of the bitter-sweet 
Hung on the vine aglow, 

AVhere they w^ander with tardy feet, 
Over the crusted snow. 

Reaching up to the bough above, 
Plucked he a ruddy spray. 

And with it gave his ardent love 
Unto the maid that day. 

Lo, as the tendrils of the vine. 
Closely the tree embraced. 

Unforbidden his arms entwine 
Fondly about her waist. 

And like the berries, blushing red. 
Kissed by the genial sun. 

Over her face a crimson spread, 
A kiss and she was won. 

Little he knew, the bitter-sweet, 
Placed on her heaving breast. 

Filled with a woman's sly deceit, 
Symbolized Love, its guest. 

0, for an angel's tongue to tell 

All the ecstatic bliss. 
All the Heaven and all the Hell 
In Love's first honied kiss. 

Only a spray of bitter-sweet! 

Only a whispered, ''Yes". 
Love has come, and with joy replete. 

His future life to bless. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 99 

Only a hasty, angry word, 

And, with its pure delight, 
Love, like a gay, inconstant bird, 

Taketh again its flight. 

Note: The Bitter-sweet referred to here is the climb- 
ing bitter-sweet or wax-work, celastris scandens, whose red 
berries with flaring arils hang on the vines all winter. 



TO FLORENCE 

I 'm drunk with the love of a pair of brown eyes, 

A form that is model and neat ; 
A brovr that is beautiful, lofty, and wise, 

And cheeks that with roses compete. 

Her lips are the fountain at which I have drunk 

The maddening nectar of love. 
And sorrow and trouble and care I have sunk 

In the depth of her bright eyes above. 

Her delicate hand, as I hold it in mine. 
With love and with sympathy thrills; 

The warmth of her heart and her virtue divine. 
My being with ecstacy fills. 

The swell of her bosom, the throb of her heart. 

While claspnig her delicate waist, 
But seem of my being the heavenly part, 

All loveable, spotless, and chaste. 



100 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

0, Florence, thy love is the rose that alone, 

The path of my life now adorns; 
Should other hands pluck it and call it their own, 

What would there be left me but thorns? 

July 29, 1908. 

THE DEATH OF LOVE'S MESSENGER 

A beautiful mansion was built one day, 

The home of a spotless soul; 
And though it was fashioned from mortal clay, 

'Twas a masterly, perfect whole; 
And all who gazed on the work of art 

Were filled with a sudden flame. 
And every sentient, poetic heart 

Did its beauty and worth proclaim. 

It shed a light on the sinful night 

Of a world grown sad and old, 
And the dove of love in its erring flight 

Under heavens dark and cold. 
Through an open window fluttered in, 

And the shutters closed behind, 
So the messenger ever since has been 

A prisoner, close confined. 

I sent my carrier dove to bear 

A message of love for me. 
It flew away through the depths of air 

On its pinions, swift and free. 
It saw the gleam from the mansion fair. 

And dashed on the glowing pane, 
And beat its wings in wild despair. 

But its efforts were all in vain. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 101 

It saw its companion, a captive still 

But happy and well content 
To rest, protected from damp and chill, 

For its strength was nearly spent. 
The wind of the north blew cold and keen, 

And the heaven's dome grew black, 
But never a guiding star was seen 

To light my messenger back. 

jNIany days I awaited my dove's return. 

For the answer that it would bring; 
My heart did burn and my bosom yearn 

For the flutter of its vring. 
It never came, and I sought at last. 

And there where the mansion shed 
Its light on the future and on the past 

Was the courier of love found dead. 

Beloved Sybil, if you find 

Included in this allegory 
A picture of the poet's mind. 

That tells a truer story ; 
Believe it but a symbol, dear. 

Of pure and deep affection. 
That brings your visage ever near 

In moments of reflection. 

To S D , Nov., 1906. 



102 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

DAWN 

Night apart her robes hath drawn, 
And the rosy light of dav.'ii 
Steals across the dewy lawn 
That gay flowers are adorning; 
And a gentle breeze awakes 
On the rivers and the lakes, 
And the early songster breaks 
Into carols of the morning. 

Mortals, rise! 0, mortals, rise! 
Rub the slumber from your eyes! 
See the merry warbler flies 
From its nest to greet the dawning ; 
And the cocks are crowing still, 
As atop the eastern hill, 
Sol dispels the twilight chill, 
While the drowsy man is yawning. 

ON HEARING A WOMAN SING AT CHURCH 

I have wandered amid the green valleys, 

I have wandered o 'er meadow and hill, 
When spring from her southern home sallies. 

To visit the north-land so chill; 
When birds in the tree-tops w^ere singing 

Love songs, which were borne on the breeze 
To mates who were swaying and swinging 

On boughs of the neighboring trees. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 103 

To many a voice I have listened, 

That swelling the gay warblers choir, 
Told the joy of the sunshine that glistened 

On wings that so seldom tire ; 
But never a voice was so thrilling, 

So filled with a music divine, 
As that of a woman's whose trilling 

Has enraptured this sad heart of mine. 

Tis a sound as of rippling waters 

That wander in depths of the wood. 
Where the wood-nymphs beautiful daughters 

Bathe oft in its crystalline flood. 
Tis a sound as of zephyrs sighing 

Through a vale where roses bloom. 
Or the flapping of angel wings flying 

Through the midnight darkness and gloom. 

0, woman, thy strains are undying, 

They sink in each warm, human heart, 
Which, like unto echoes replying. 

Beats loudly in time for its part ; 
And when you're forgot by the living. 

Thy tear-stained mementos are gone. 
The voice, which God blest you in giving. 

May still in some sad heart live on. 



NOT PEACE, BUT WAR! 
Hark to the words of warning ! 

Hear ye, the dying sage. 
Whose care-worn brow adorning 

Are argent locks of age! 



104 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

''0, might tlie coming morrow. 

Shunning the ills to be, 
Sink all the future sorrow 

Into eternity." 

''Blindly the misled preachers 
Watch for all strife to cease 

"While unprophetic teachers 

Vainly proclaim, 'Peace, peace'! 



?i J J 



"Can ye not hear the thunder 
Rolled from the cannon's mouth? 

Nations are rent asunder — 

The East, West, North, and South." 

''Over the mighty ocean 

A blast is borne afar. 
The floating forts in motion, 

Answer its cry of war." 

"The troops of earth assemble. 
Beneath whose tramp of feet 

The whole earth seems to tremble, 
While hostile nations meet." 

"The highest dome of Heaven 

To lowest depths of Hell 
By bombs of death is riven. 

And lit by bursting shell." 

"Then brothers fight each other. 
And children slay their sires, 

And men all virtues smother 
In passion and desires." 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 105 

''The churches are demolished, 
And men wax worse and worse; 

All government's abolished, 

And men their Maker curse." 

"But through this reign of terror, 

Of ruin, crime, and war, 
Still brighter and yet fairer 

Shall shine Faith's golden star." 

''And those who faithful ever 
The righteous paths have trod. 

Though wrapt in night shall never 
Lose heritage with God." 

The old man's voice sank loAver, 
His breathing seemed depressed; 

And as his pulse grew slower, 
He calmly sank to rest. 

The sun its halo giving 

To crown his hoary head 
Shone not upon the living 

But on a prophet dead. 

N. B. This poem written about 1900 might well be said 
to be a prophecy of the present European War. 



106 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

LOST IN A BLIZZARD 

Alone on the snow-covered prarie, 

Afar from my home in the West, 
Though my weary feet lag and wonld tarry, 

I urge them along without rest; 
For winds are around my path fleeting. 

The snow is beginning to fall ; 
My imminent peril completing, 

The night is impending o'er all. 

The winds become stronger and stronger, 

The air with the blown snow is filled, 
The trail I can follow no longer. 

My frame by the cold wind is chilled. 
I'm blinded, benighted, and weary, 

And o'er me a drowsiness creeps. 
Afar from my cottage so cheery. 

Where wife at the dim window weeps. 

Then, frenzied I cry in my madness, 

As onward through storm and through night 
I struggle, so burdened by sadness, 

''God leadeth Faith's footsteps aright;" 
And lo, like the soul that in darkness. 

The heavenly gate sees ajar, 
I see in my gloom and my darkness, 

A light like the light of a star. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 107 

Tis Faith's guiding star that I follow, 

It leads to my own cottage door, 
Through drifts to its threshhold I wallow, 

Exhausted I sink on its floor. 
A wife's loving arms are entwining 

Around me in tender embrace, 
And now o'er my pillow are shining 

Two stars in her beautiful face. 



THE ATHEIST 

I know a man, if I may call him man, 
Who, ever since his spiteful life began. 

Has cursed and railed at his creator's plan; 
And while the churches praise and preachers pray, 
He leads a few blind follovrers astray. 
Along his dark and atheistic way. 

His breath, that wafts with every passing hour, 
A curse upon the all-creating povrer. 

Would wither up the leaf and blight the flower ; 
And where his foul, polluting feet should tread. 
The springing grass a\ ould shriveled be and dead, 
Were not a holy light around him shed. 

Yet wiser than his friends and kindred grown. 
He glories in the thought that he alone 
Will never worship God upon His throne ; 

And for each blessing that his Lord bestows, 
Move boastful and more arrogant he grows. 
And curses Him on every wind that blows. 



108 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Yet Lord thy hand has many years been stayed. 
By mercy's plea thy judgment is delayed, 
Until the drooping flower of life shall fade. 

But when his head is pillowed on earth's breast, 
Among the purest, holiest, and best. 

Will he receive like judgment with the rest ? 

A man may judge the fleeting things of earth. 
But who may know the great intrinsic worth 
Of one lost soul, save Him w^ho gave it birth; 
And that is why the world condemns Him not. 
But leaves him with the evil he hath wrought, 
To God, the Judge and Master of all thought. 



PLANT THOU A TREE 

Plant, thou, a tree when the birds all are singing. 
Plant, thou, a tree when our Arbor day comes ; 

When gentle breezes are playfully winging 

Their way mid the woods where the honey bee hums. 

Many an enemy it will encounter, 

Transplanted far from the soil of its birth; 

Many an enemy it will encounter, 

Ere it will stand as a giant of earth. 

Soon will the rootlets grow deeper and stronger; 

And when the tree will have lived a decade, 
Then will the branches, grown larger and longer, 

Cast in the summer a far reaching shade. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 109 

Oft in the cold winter blast will it shiver, 

And its bare arms will be covered with snov7; 

Yet will the spring gladly come to deliver 

Her children from winter's dark bondage of woe. 

Then will the roots drink the first falling shower, 
Then will it hang out its leaf-banners green, 

Then beneath boughs will the birds find a bower. 
Soon will their nests in the tree-top be seen. 

When by old age hast thy life been o'ertaken. 
Sheltered by it may thy grandchildren play; 

And as thou look'st in thy mind will awaken 
A beautiful thought of a happier day. 

Plant, thou, a tree when the birds all are singing, 
Plant, thou, a tree when our Arbor Day comes ; 

When gentle breezes are playfully winging 

Their wav mid tlie woods where the honey bee hums. 



THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE BIRD 

The First to be with us, the last to be gone, 
In dusk of the evening and flush of the dawn, 

The Red, White and Blue bird, the red, white and blue. 
That basks in tlie sunshine and bathes in the dew, 

Is cheerily singing to me and to you, 
Puritv ! Purity ! Purity ! Purity ! 



no LYRICS OP LEISURE 

The season advances, the robin has come, 
The grackles are noisy, the woodpeckers drum. 

Remote from the dread habitations of men. 

On a stump once the home of the flicker and wren, 

The red, white and blue bird is singing again. 
Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! 

When strawberries blossom, his mate builds a nest, 
And what notes of joy by his song is expressed. 

He peers in the new home and there he espies 
Four freshly laid eggs just as blue as the skies. 

And over the meadow he sings as he flies. 
Beautiful ! Beautiful ! Beautiful ! Beautiful ! 

The summer is over and autumn is here. 
And soon w^ill the heralds of winter appear. 

The red, white, and blue bird, the red, white and blue, 
That basks in the sunshine and bathes in the dew, 

Is singing adieu unto me and to you, 

Fare-e-well ! Fare-e-well ! Fare-e-well ! Fare-e-well ! 



TO ERMINA PERKINS KEARNEY 

Hail to thee, who oft in childhood 

Trod the paths that now I tread; 
By the river, through the wildwood, 

'Mid the hills by fancy led. 
And perchance when j^outhful sorrow 

Did thy tender heart enshroud, 
You from nature sought to borrow 

Comfort from the transient cloud. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE HI 



In the cooling shade reclining 

Of some forest giant old, 
Round whose trunk the ivy twining 

Climbs to sunlit boughs of gold, 
Or beside the placid river, 

Gently flowing Little Sioux, 
With a passion all aquiver. 

You v.'ould hide from mortal view; 

That you might in sadness musing, 

Dream the weary hours away. 
Silence to thy soul infusing 

A devout yet tender lay, 
Till about the smiling garden 

Like a slow descending pall, 
AVould the gloomy night's grim warden 

Hang his darkness over all. 

Oft, perhaps, you may have wandered — 

Lusty youth bespeaking joy — 
While some new found hope you pondered. 

At thy ow^n thoughts blushing coy. 
As was hurled from youth's clear fountain 

Dreams that quickly pass away. 
Borne unto the sacred mountain 

Where the ^Muses still hold sway. 



112 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

But the dreams thy hand translated 

From the language of thy heart, 
With a passion unabated, 

Joy to other lives impart. 
Critics be they learned and lettered 

Can to them no fault impute. 
For thy soul, to us unfettered. 

Speaks far sweeter than the lute. 

THE LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER 

Like curtains making dark a room. 

The clouds hung low in double gloom, 

And hid the royal seat of Day, 
Within whose arms expiring lay 

The golden Autumn, closely pressed, 
Her freezing form against his breast. 

From twig to core, trees trembled sore. 
As swiftly sped the north wind by. 

No leafy foliage then they bore, 
A solemn aspect then, they wore. 
And tossed their naked arms on high. 

Wlien darkness settled quickly down, 
And all the farmer's chores were done, 

Night frowning brow usurped the crown. 
While absent was the regal sun. 

Around the hearth, we gathered, all, 
And laughed away the evening hours ; 
From baby up to brother tall. 
We sang a song o'er Autumn's pall, 
And welcomed winter with his powers. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 113 

THE LAND OF FREEDOM 

The march of Freedom round the world 
With flag upon the breeze unfurled, 

With blushing virtue for a guide. 
And joy a tripping at her side, 

We long may watch and hope to see 
Until shall dawn, eternity. 

But it shall always be the same 

"Electric spark and transient flame, 
That flits about from place to place 

To break one chain and lift one race, 
To set a single beacon light 

Mid darkness of Oppression's night. 
To bid mankind sustain their right 

And battle 'gainst a tyrant's might; 
And for each chain that Freedom breaks. 

Each martyr that her ardor makes. 
Oppression's rule more power shall wield, 

A thousand cowards meekly yield. 

0, never will I deign to sing 

The glory of a new crowned king, 
Nor will I praise the hand so base 

That rivets shackles on a race. 
Mine be the song of native land, 

AVhere long Bartholdi's gift shall stand, 
The land whose shores with restless wave 

The waters of two oceans lave. 



114 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

And let us all sing praise to God, 

And wet with tears the verdant sod 
Above the graves of those who gave 

Their lives Columbia's land to save, 
And those who died in civil strife, 

Preservers of the Union's life, 
That we 'mong nations might be blest- 

In Freedom's loving arms caressed. 



THE QUESTION 

If I should give you a delicate flower 

Culled from my thoughts in a passionate hour, 
Every petal as white as the snow, 

Save where with kisses tliey blushingly glow. 
Soft as the velvet and pure as the air 

Heavenward bound with a burden of prayer, 
Breathing a fragrance as sweet as the rose, 

"What would you do vrith it? Nobody knows. 

Love, would you cherish it and with thy tears. 

Joyful yet sorrowful, througli coming years 
Nourish, preserve it as fresh and as fair 

As when I gave it my message to bear; 
And Avould you wear it a gem for thy breast. 

Though it thy love to tlie whole world confessed. 
Shielding it close from the harsh wind that blows 

Scandals and perfidies? Nobody knows. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 115 

Or would you \veave it with tenderest care 

Fast in the folds of thy soft raven, hair, 
And, as the victor of old wore the plume, 

Wear as thy trophy of conquest the bloom. 
And with a heart, undefilable, pure. 

And with a love that will ever endure, 
Keep it a tender remembrance of me. 

Mock rose of Sharon and spotless as He? 

Or would you carelessly put it away. 

Withering fast in the heat of the day, 
And vdien its beaut}^ at midday was gone. 

And its bright petals vrere shriveled and wan. 
Pluck it asunder and cast it aside. 

Though it had once filled thy bosom with pride. 
And in its place put a great bleeding rose, 

Gift of another one? Nobody knows. 



LOXLINESS OF SPIRIT 

As I journey along in the pathway of life. 

That the feet of the multitude tread, 
Ever hastening on with confusion and strife, 

Only pausing to bury their dead; 
Though I wander through every climate and zone. 

My soul with its burden must follov.' alone. 

There is many a one that I greet with a smile, 

There is many a hand that I press ; 
And a friend shortens many a tedious mile, 

And lightens the weight of distress; 
But the innermost longings of man are unknown. 

And the soul with its burden must follow alone. 



116 LYRICS OP LEISURE 



In the flower's eorrolla and blade of the grass, 

And awakening bnds on the tree, 
Is a beautiful lesson for me as I pass. 

For the secrets of nature I see ; 
But the heart of my friend never beats as my own, 

So my soul with its burden must follow alone. 

In the world with its struggle for powder and fame. 
Should I meet with the greatest success. 

And build for the future an immortal name, 
Be the topic of pulpit and press; 

Though a fortune were mine or imperial throne, 
]\Iy soul would be burdened and bear it alone. 

If the spirit has something it longs to impart, 
But the ears of the world will not hear; 

If the voice of the muse softens no human heart. 
And awakens not sympathy's tear; 

Its echo rolls back on the heart like a stone. 

And the soul that conceived it must bear it alone. 

"What a joy it would be should I happen to meet 

A nature respondent to mine ; 
As sensitive, fanciful, filled as complete 

With the music of spirits divine ; 
0, my life would be filled with the sunlight of day, 

And the burden of lonliness vanish away. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE II7 

ONLY A NIGGER ! 

' ' Only a nigger, ' ' I heard men say, 
As in the dusty road he lay, 

]\Ioaning and bleeding his life away, 
Stabbed by a drunken brother's hand. 

Baring his bosom to the sun. 

Showing the deed the knife had done, 
Tossing about like a tortured one, 
Wliile curious people around him stand. 

Dryly, the summoned doctor said, 

Turning away, ' ' He will soon be dead. ' ' 
Slowly, the negro raised his head 
And muttered, ' ' Little you care for me ! ' ' 

Sorrowed the aged mother less. 
Suffered the widow less distress. 

Should the murdered not have redress, 
Because but a colored man is he ! 

''Only a nigger," people say. 
Hurry the bloody corpse away! 
Carry him out in the twilight gray 
To the Potter's Field, that none may see! 

THE MESSENGER TO HER GRAVE 

Within the grave-yard on the hill 
I stood at eventide. 
And heard tlie merry warblei^ trill, 
While evening breezes sighed. 



118 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

I felt a grief no words can tell; 

Once more I seemed to hear 
The old church bell ring out a knell 

For one to memory dear. 

The waving grass and flowers plume 

Bowed to me as I passed, 
With double gloom, beside her tomb, 

I found myself at last. 

Against the falling shades of night 
Whose spell I dared to brave. 

The marble white, shone yet more bright 
Upon her lonely grave. 

A sculptured Bible crowns the stone 
That marks the hallowed spot. 

And for her faith the spirit flown 
In, Heaven's crowned, I wot. 

A stooping form, a smiling face, 
A voice so low and sweet. 

That often in my wildest chase 
My roving youth would greet ; 

Then crowning all with magic grace, 

The argent locks complete 
The picture, time can ne'er efface. 

Of her I used to meet. 

I paid the garland rites of love, 
With sad and mournful look, 

When from above a turtle dove 
Lit on. the marble book. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 119 



''0, art thou come," I, starting, cried, 

"A spirit from the land 
Where lives the one who lately died 

And joined the seraph band?" 

' ' Impart to me the news you bear. 
Why haunt her lowly bed! 

How rests the soul in virtue fair 
That from this life has fled!" 

I might as well have asked the dead 

The favor of reply. 
The turtle dove but turned its head, 

Then winged its way on high. 

So as the night had darker grown, 
Although the stars were out, 

I wandered home, aggrieved, alone. 
And breathed a prayer devout. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 



Murray's Hill, 1 1-2 mi. N. E. of Little Sioux, la. 
Near where the ice-bound river. Little Sioux, the low 
hills meet-," page 24 




The ''Bluffs'' looking south from Murray Hill. 
*'Ye, pleasant hills! Ye, verdant hills!" page 16 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 121 

OUR INDIAN GUEST 

In clouds the summer sun, went down, 

In every home within our town 
The inmates trembled with affright, 

For 'er us scowled the low-browed night ; 
And well we knew that awful scowl 

Meant danger ; while, with dreadful hoAvl, 
The night wind seemed, with muffled breath. 

To sing for us a dirge of death. 

Each other's fear, we, chiding at, 

A family unbroken sat; 
"While private altars everywhere 

Sent up to God a craven's prayer. 
As if to mock the prayers that rose, 

The wind still stronger, stronger blows. 
Scarce could the house withstand the shock. 

When at the door we heard a knock. 

But ere my hand unlocked the door 

I shouted, that above the roar 
I might he heard: ''Who dares to roam 

Beneath the Heaven's blackened dome 
On such a night?" 

I faintly heard 

A human voice, but not a w^ord. 
So with my doubt in part suppressed, 

I oped the door to stranger guest. 



122 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Lo, blinking in the doorway stood, 

As rigid as a form of wood, 
An Indian of giant mold. 

To shield him from the misty cold, 
A blanket round his shoulders hung. 

Whose loosened folds the wild wind flung. 
Except for this the man Avas dressed 

Like any settler of the West. 

Then to the nearest chair he passed 

And o'er the room his dark eyes cast. 
He read within our own the fear 

That glistened like a starting tear. 
In English, pure as I could speak 

He said : ' ' The pale-faced man is weak ! 
Why fear a guest to roof and warm, 

Or is it but the raging storm ! ' ' 

''My braves once held this land of thine, 

And I was chief — so all was mine ; 
But I have lived to see the day 

When they are driven far away. 
Yet in this valley I disdain 

The cyclone and the hurricane. 
I've learned from generations past 

The blessing which this valley hast. ' ' 
' ' Tj^g i Father Spirit ' never meant 

This land by storms should e'er be rent. 
So long as shall the river glide 

Along the valley's western side. 
And hills upon the East shall stand 

To overlook this verdant land, 
At threatful clouds I shall laugh. 

The wind I'll scorn and rain I'll quaff." 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 123 

Unto our fear his words were balm. 

He ceased to speak, there came a calm. 
And little did we know that night, 

The cyclone's flapping wings of might 
Had borne destruction, death, and woe, 

Just o'er Missouri river's flow. 
AVe slept. When in the clear, cold dawn 

I woke again, our guest was gone. 

Large streams tornadoes never cross, 

Nor rise o'er hills without the loss 
Of half their strength ; so on our town 

We may with joy from hills look down ; 
For God has with His finger traced 

The river's course, and firmly placed 
The hills to guard His chosen land 

From ruin at the Storm King 's hand. 



THOUGHT 

Only a thought ! 
Through immeasurable space and time it sped, 
And 'er the black abyss of chaos winged 

Its rayless flight. 

^ Before its power. 

Myriad glowing orbs of fire burst forth, 
Dispensing light till darkness disappeared, 
And night was day. 



124 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

Only a thought ! 
Emanating from that creative source 
Whom we call God, and lo, the universe 

Was established. 

Only a thought! 
The mysteries of Heaven are revealed, 
And other worlds, invisible before, 

Arrest the sight. 

Galileo 
Has conquered enternity, time, and space ; 
And lengthened human vision till it scans 

The throne of God. 

Only a thought! 
Imprisoned is the giant force of steam. 
And made to drive the steamer and the car 

For puny man. 

Only a thought. 
And from the clouds is drawn the lightning down 
And made to carry messages for him 

'er land and sea. 

From Adam's birth, 
The power to think has been the hope of man. 
It gives dominion o 'er the speechless beasts 

That roam the earth. 

So let us think. 
That nearer to the Master of all thought 
We may be drawn, and in our hearts of faith 

Commune with Him. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 125 

ANARCHISM 

Thou base, ignoble monster! Hellish beast! 

In midnight of oppression given, birth! 
In gloomy darkness spreadest thou thy feast, 

And prey est on the governments of earth. 

Of Tyranny and barbarism born, 

Thou art inured to universal woe. 
Thy followers are wretched and forlorn, 

For suffering and poverty they know. 

Upon thy head is worn the crown of hate ; 

And cruelty is written on thy brow. 
Before thee trembles state and potentate ; 

And kings of earth before thy scepter cow. 

Thy hands with blood of innocents are stained ; 

And glutted is thy maw with human prey. 
A thousand years of terror thou hast reigned. 

While all the world has cursed thy natal day. 

Imposter, see, thy doctrine learned of Hell, 
In minds of ignorance hath taken root; 

And nourished by a hate no power can quell, 
Has thrived, matured, and now is bearing fruit ! 

In every nook and corner of the world, 
"Where superstition's twilight still prevails. 

The red flag as thy ensign is unfurled, 
"While he who rules before that banner quails. 



126 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

The grim assassin lurks to do tliy will, 
With fatal bullet or with bloody knife; 

And is content if he may only spill 

The precious blood that costs a monarch's life. 

Dark plots, intrigues, and every form of crime — 
The bursting bomb that scatters death around — 

The serpent treason rolling in its slime. 
Are all that in thy history are found. 

We pity those who plunged in heathen night 
Are trodden down beneath a tyrant's heel — 

The millions who are reaching toward the light 
Of Liberty and God in vain appeal. 

But Liberty and Anarchy are twain, 

And never can their causes be combined; 

Though one should break the shackles and the chain, 
The other still by law would be confined. 

America, 0, guard thy freedom well ! 

The blood-red flag of Anarchy beware 1 
It waves above the heaving ocean's swell. 

It flaunts among the nations everywhere. 

Columbia, beware the secret foe 

Of government and civil law and peace — 

The Harbinger of misery and woe ! 
Forbid the sons of Anarchv increase ! 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 127 

THE QUARREL 

AVe wandered out in the gloaming, 

]\Iy dear little Muse and I. 
We were always fond of roaming 

When the stars were in the sky, — 
When the heat of the day was over, 

And the evening dews would fall. 
And loud to the youthful rover 

The hoot owl begins to call. 

''0, let's sing a song together 

Of flowers and trees," she said, 
' ' Of beautiful, balmy weather, 

Of the starlit sky o'er head." 
But peevishly did I answer, 

"I sing but the world's affairs." 
She: "The world's a necromancer. 

Its riches are bogus wares." 

And so in the silent gloaming. 

As the evening breezes free. 
And hand in hand we were roaming. 

We couldn't somehow agree; 
And ever since then we've wandered 

In paths that are far apart, 
And though I have sat and pondered. 

No songs to my lips will start. 



128 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Now oft in the hush of twilight 

I list to a lover's vow, 
And oft in the gloom of midnight 

Neath hands in the dark I cow; 
And my soul is racked with anguish, 

For I cannot sing my song, 
And hid from the Avorld I languish 

For a whole sad summer long. 



THE ADDER AND THE FLOWER 

In years agone, what hopes have gayly come 
And for a season filled my life with joy; 

They fled and left my heart with sorrow numb, 

And crushed the soul which they could not destroy. 

I saw a flower which bloomed beside the way. 
And nestled closely in the dewy grass. 

And gave its fragrance to the breath of May — 
0, how could I indifferently pass ! 

I stooped to pluck the blossom from the stem, 
When, lo, an adder hid within the green. 

Uncoiled, as if my action, to condemn. 

And smote my hand ere danger could be seen. 

I met a maiden fair as any flower. 

In tender, sweet, and confidential years. 

And, though it promised joy, that fatal hour 
Has left me naught but sighs and bitter tears. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 129 

The lightning glances from her eyes of brown 

A captive bound me to the rustic lass. 
O, how could I repel her witli a frown, 

Or how could I indifferently pass ! 

I laid my heart an offering at her feet. 

She pressed it for a moment to her own ; 
But while it with extatic rapture beat, 

She dashed it torn and bleeding on a stone. 

The years go by with swift and noiseless tread. 

I gather strength anew to journey on. 
And from the cherished hopes that thus have fled, 

A true and simple lesson I have drawn. 

The things which seem most beautiful and bright, 

A poison adder may within conceal; 
The things which seem as black and grim as night, 

A pure and holy presence may reveal. 



THE ENGLISHMAN'S BLUNDER 

An Englishman lately. 
So learned and so stately, 

In Parliament censured the Lords of his land, 
Who over the waters 
Wed millionaire's daughters, 

And barter for money a title so grand. 



130 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

The blood that once tingled 

AVith pride, now is mingled 
With that of the boorish American race, 

And by this relation 

You weaken the nation, 
And leave bnt degenerate sons in yonr place. 

This Englishman stately 

Prevaricates greatly. 
For even a half-v.itted mortal can see 

The fairest of women, 

Twixt Goddess and human^ 
Are found in Columbia, land of the Free. 

Her flowering beauty, 

Her faith to her duty, 
Her wit and her learning have riches combined ; 

Then why should he wonder 

The Lords make a blunder. 
And marry to women so truly refined ? 

Prehaps, they're demented. 

Who are not contented 
To seek for the gems of their own beloved land ; 

To follow, blind-folded, 

The forms that are molded 
To beauty and grace by Society's hand. 

Behold their sweet lasses, 

AVith ear-rings and glasses. 
The sawed-olf , diminutive beauties, behold ! 

Perhaps, they are better 

To even a debtor, 
Than genuine beauty with plenty of gold. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 131 

Don't envy your brother, 

My Lord, and don 't bother 
For fear that the nation will crumble to dust. 

He seeks a full measure 

Of conjugal pleasure. 
But is not contented to live on a crust. 

Go worship your lasses 

With ear-rings and glasses. 
But know you the truth as it ever shall be : 

The fairest of women. 

Twixt goddess and human, 
Are found in Columbia, land of the free. 



THE BATTLE OF THE WINDS 

When the sun has gone down. 
On the night's brow, a frown, 
In menacing darkness is resting. 
Over country and town. 

Over hills bare and brown. 

The north and south winds are contesting. 

How their mighty blasts sting! 
How their air weapons swing! 

They fight with love's fiercest fire burning 
For the fair hand of Spring 
Who on sun-gilded wing, 

In flowery robes clad is returning. 



132 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Now the forest trees bend 

Where the mad winds contend, 
And roar with the fury of battle; 
While the heavens they rend 
Till their fountains descend 
With a long and deafening rattle. 

While the red lightnings flash, 
And the loud thunders crash. 

The winds struggle on without ceasing; 
And the earth's waters dash 
Neath the wind 's biting lash. 

Whose keenness is ever increasing. 

In the poet's lone bower, 

Near the wild midnight hour. 

King storm to the muses hath spoken ; 
And he feels a strange power 
In the wind and the shower, 

Till their spell by a song is broken. 

Lo, there soon will be born 
A most beautiful morn. 

And sleep will his eye-lids encumber ; 
For the south wind has won, 
And before the new sun. 

Its softer voice lulls him to slumber. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 133 

THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE 

I look on the world aud its strife 

From poverty's humble cot, 
And sometimes I weary of life, 

And blush at my lo^^'ly lot ; 
For often in dreams of my youth, 

I soar to the starry sky, 
But life in its same daily truth 

Gives my ambition the lie. 

I've tasted the water of springs 

From green erudition's height, 
And I've longed for an eagles wings 

To bear me in joyous flight 
Through heaven's unlimited space, 

To rest on this sunclad mount; 
And my name on its cliff I'd trace, 

And bathe in its crystal fount. 

But only one path have I found 

That leads to the mountain top, 
That ever with flowerets is crowned. 

Where the dews refreshing drop ; 
Tis the way that the wealthy built, 

All paved with the precious gold. 
And only names written in gilt 

On its rock-cliff are enrolled. 



134 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

I thought with privation and toil, 

By courting fair fortune's smile, 
That nothing could hinder or foil 

My travelling the long defile; 
But all my delusions are gone — 

By wisdom of older men, 
I can see in my manhoods dawn, 

Life 's flower would be faded then. 

I look on the Vv^orld and its strife 

From poverty's humble cot. 
And sometimes I weary of life. 

And blush at my lowly lot. 
0, would some angelical power 

i\Iight open the way to me. 
By clothing the poet's lone bower, 

With a golden canopy. 



RUSSIA'S DISGRACE 

Awake, thou fiend, for on thy night, 

The world has turned its searching light. 
Throw off thy cloak, thy foul disguise. 

Stand nude before all watching eyes. 
You long have hid your fiercest scowl 
Behind the priestly robe and cowl; 
And, posing as a saintly one. 

You've reveled 'neath the golden Sun, 
That once has risen, ne'er shall set 

O'er the civilized world, and yet 
Your subjects bitterly bemoan 

Your brutal rule from zone to zone. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 135 



List, what is tliat which rends the air! 

It is an agonizing prayer. 
An old man pleading for his life — 

The answer is the bloody knife. 
And now I hear an infants wail 

A piercing cry has told the tale. 
While on the scene officials gazed, 

The child was killed, the mother crazed. 
Then worse by far than pangs of death, 

When life goes out with fleeting breath, 
The fate of every virgin fair 

At hands of beasts that falsely wear 
The garb of men, yet stain the sod 

With human blood in the name of God. 

0, shall the world unshaken view 

Another St. Bartholomew ! 
Shall Nero still hold fearless sway, 

And human beings make his prey! 
The deed is done, now prayers and tears 

Flow thick and fast above their biers ; 
But all the tears that ever fell 

Can never quench the fires of Hell, 
Nor all the sighs that ever rose 

Alleviate their dying throes. 
Nor all the fervent words of prayer 

Undo the crimes committed there. 



136 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

THE BEGINNING OF SORROAVS. MAT. 24-8. 

"What mean the fearful storms that sweep 

In fury o'er the boundless deep? 
What means the cyclone's awful rage 

That horror stamps on history's page? 
What means the deadl}^ earthquake 's shock, 

The mount of fire, the falling rock ? 
From out the tomb of ages past 

A voice replies, ''Tis not the last, 

Tis the beginning of sorrows." 

The land where turbaned Hindoos dw^ell. 

Disease and want had made a hell. 
AVhere plagues mid famished throngs arose. 

Death came in hungered, fevered throes. 
We heard the sad, the plaintive cry. 

And still the prophet seemed to sigh — 
"Tis but a warning shadow cast 

From darker days, tis not the last, 

Tis the beginning of sorrows." 

We saw the rush of waters wild. 

That mountain high the fierce wind piled, 
As o'er that island city fair 

The flood swept on, and everywhere. 
When came the calm and light of day, 

Unburied dead by thousands lay. 
A city lost, a world aghast, 

The prophet cries, ''Tis not the last, 

Tis the beginning of sorow^s." 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 137 

"WHiere freedom showed with flag unfurled 

Liberty's virtue to the world, 
We saw the war cloud hover long, 

While right for victory battled strong, 
But when the pall had lifted there. 

We saw death, ruin, and despair. 
But all this desolation vast. 

Repeated annals of the past, 

Is the beginning of sorrows. 

Enthroned upon an ocean bay, 
A stately city stood one day. 
Mt. Pelee on the other hand. 

Protected it from storms by land ; 
But from that old volcanic peak. 

What dire destruction fate did wreak. 
A mighty blast, day turned to night, 
A thriving city lost to sight. 
Is the beginning of sorrows. 

The wealthy empire of the East 

From isolation is released. 
Three thousand years unchanged it stood, 

A race content with Gods of wood. 
A proselyte the Christians claim, 

While China slowly adds her name 
To those by faith of modern birth : 

Bonaparte said, for all the earth, 
This, the beginning of sorrows. 



138 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

When Christ with His majestic power, 
In that predestined midnight hour, 

Shall come to judge the world, unkno^^^l, 
The angel from the Master's throne 

Shall plant one foot upon the sea, 
On land the other, and decree 

That there shall be no longer, time. 
Then every nation, land, and clime. 
Shall witness the end of sorrows. 

When shall this be ? The day none know. 

Christ told His people long ago. 
When all God's children shall have heard 

His truthful, everlasting word, 
The sun shall darken, from their place 

The glowing stars shall fall apace. 
He Cometh in a golden cloud. 

The last stern trumpet soundeth loud. 

Then endeth all earthly sorrows. 



RED DEER'S PROPHECY 

The sun was sinking in the west. Its dying splendor fell 
Upon a winding river and a prairie stretching far ; 

It rested on the verdant hills and lit a woodland dell, 

Where bands of hostile Indians were waging bloody war. 

Two hunting parties of the Sioux and Omaha's had met 
Upon the cherished hunting ground both tribes so long 
had claimed 

The fight commenced at sunrise, ended when the sun had set 
Upon a field of glory that has never yet been named. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 139 

When fell the mighty king of clay in glowing armor bright, 
Above the dark and deadly fray there crept the shades of 
night. 
The last bright, golden sunlance had evanished from the 
sight. 
When Red Deer, leader of the Sioux was wounded in the 
fight. 

His warriors, heavy hearted, bore their chieftan from the 
field. 
The fight at last was over and the Omaha's had won. 
The beaten Sioux retreated by the shades of night con- 
cealed. 
To camp at foot of yonder hill until the morrow 's sun. 

That night the chief had weaker grown and at the break 
of day, 
He called his noble warriors forth to hear his last behest. 
While on his brow the dew of death and lines of suffering 
lay. 
The morning's earliest sunbeam stole upon that brow to 
rest. 

''My fellow braves that dare to face the arrows of the foe, 
That dare to tread the trackless wood where none have 
been before 
Come listen to my dying words for all of you must know, 
I'll soon be gone to lands beyond and speak to you no 
more." 



140 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

"But when I'm dead I'd have you with the Omaha's make 
peace. 
You both have foes in common which you know not of 
to-day. 
The number of the white man in this country shall increase, 
And drive your daring children from this hunting 
ground away." 

"I then shall sleep upon the hill with others of our dead, 
And through the valley's mighty length the iron-horse 
shall speed 
How could my ashes lie in peace within their narrow bed, 
If I could hear the snorts and puffs of this, the white 
man's steed!" 

' ' Although before my burning eyes the morning mists arise, 

I think I see — I know I see a strange, unearthly sight ; 
For white men's towering tepee-tops seem propped against 
the skies. 
A white man's thriving village has been builded in the 
night." 

' ' And o 'er the great Missouri still another village stands. 
While from its fires a thousand smokes curl up to dim the 
sun. 
They seem like ghosts that beckon with their Avhite and 
fleecy hands 
To happy lands up yonder where we go when life is 
done." 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 141 

''Now from the green hill's summit soars an eagle slowly 
down, 
Above the village poising till it finds itself a perch 
Upon the tallest tepee-top, and as a fitting crown, 

It spreads its wings to balance, as it gives a sudden 
lurch." 

"Where the eagle spread its pinions, flocks of geese, un- 
startled, call. 

And, unmolested lurking, lie the deer no hand can tame ; 
But there will stand a city that will triumph over all — 

And valley and the river shall unite to form its name." 

His vrords were spoken and the face of each whom he ad- 
dressed, 
A grim determintion and foreboding ill expressed; 
And like the child that's lulled to sleep upon its mother's 
breast, 
The chieftan back exhausted sank into eternal rest. 

The sun is sinking in the west, its parting glances fall 
Upon the winding river and a land of wheat and corn ; 

It shines upon that city that shall triumph over all — 
A city yet an infant in its golden tinsel morn. 

THE NEW- YEAR SLOGAN 
The metropolis of our country, with its counterfeited cheer, 
Awaits the midnight summons for the dawn of another 
year. 
Will you take ni}^ arm, 0, dreamer, as we carelessly stroll 
along 
The brightly lighted thoroughfare, through Broadway's 
seething throng. 



142 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

To you with a prophet 's vision of milleniums yet to come, 
Who heed not the life about you with its bustle and 
whirr and hum, 
But tune your ear to the future Avith its promise of peace 
and joy, 
Can the multitude's sin and passion, the dream of thy 
heart destroy? 

From whence is the motley army that revel upon the street ? 
From the dens of vice and folly, from sin and crime's 
retreat. 
But, also, from palace and parlor where luxury reigns 
supreme. 
Pours forth under cover of darkness a never-ending 
stream. 

From the numberless yawning bar-rooms that are licensed 
to poison men, 
With oaths their drunken inmates come swaggering forth 
again. 
They have drunk till their hearts are lighter than the froth 
on the foaming beer. 
For they seek to smother their sorrows and welcome the 
dawning year. 

From the lair of tlie wily gambler who is licensed to steal 
and rob. 
Rush forth under cover of darkness, a cursing and howl- 
ing mob. 
They have lost in their chance with fortune, but why should 
their hearts be drear, 
Good luck will smile on tliem gladly with the dawn of 
another year. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 143 

From the den of the scarlet woman where passion and lust 
abide, 
And every false allurement that Satan can provide; 
From the brilliantly lighted ball-room, with music and 
vain display, 
From vaudeville show and theatre, sin's devotees find 
their way. 

]\Ieanwhile in the city churches are gathered the few elect 

Of every race and color, of every creed and sect, 
"With prayers and songs and rejoicing, they wait for the 
dawning year. 
Praising God for the past year's blessings and the one 
that will soon appear. 

As the bells ring out o'er the city, proclaiming the new- 
born year, 
A shout goes up from the multitude, so loud, prolonged, 
and clear. 
As if from the pit had broken the devil and all his crew — 
"To Hell with the old year, fellows, hip hooray for the 



!" 



new ! 



0, tell me, gentle dreamer, as homeward our steps w^e wend, 
In the madly throbbing city's heart, which way do the 
people trend? 
"Will God, in His just dispensation, the dregs of humanity 
own? 
Will He answer the prayers of the faithful few, and the 
curse of the manv condone? 



144 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

THE TRIUMPH OF PEACE 

The Hounds of War upon their leashes strained, 
They scented blood in suffering Mexico; 

And while their master, firm, unmoved, remained. 
The rabble shouted, ' ' Coward, let them go. ' ' 

Across our southern border could be heard 
The rumble of the chariot of War; 

And with emotions, wild and strange were stirred 
The hearts of those who heard it from afar. 

And while the clouds still blacker, larger loomed. 
And while the thunder, louder, nearer rolled, 

As if our own fair land to strife were doomed — 
The enemies of peace waxed blatent, bold. 

Whose voices swelled the clamor of the crowd? 

The millionaire's whose only thought was gain. 
Whom power of wealth has rendered falsely proud, 

And scornful of another's grief and pain. 

The soldier trained for deeds of blood and steel. 
And yearning for a trial of his skill; 

Whose thought is not to guard the Commonweal, 
But whose delight and duty is to kill. 

The young adventurer who seeks for fame 
By deeds of violence and scorn of fear ; 

Who climbs the Alps to write a worthless name, 
And will at misery of other sneer. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 145 

The false philosopher upon the street, 
The craven who has never shouldered gun, 
Yet vainly boasts he never saw defeat, 
But tells of countless battles he has won. 

But at the helm of state with sovereign will, 
The pilot stood and watched the brewing storm. 

No mad ambition could his bosom thrill. 

He only yearned to save the state from harm. 

He kept his tireless watch with anxious care; 

With words of wisdom, ever counseled peace ; 
And heeded not the clamor everj^where, 

That bade him still the Hounds of War release. 

The storm is passed, the war clouds disappear; 

A grateful nation, purged by blood and fire. 
Emerges on our southermost frontier. 

With friendly greeting, not with sullen ire. 

And now again, with fiercely flaming brand. 
The God of War has kindled half the earth ; 

While mighty perils circumvent the land. 

And test once more our pilot's sterling worth. 

With steady nerves and purpose, undismayed ; 

He shuns each diplomatic reef and shoal; 
And with a Peace Apostle for an aide. 

He guides the nation safely toward its goal. 

And what a goal it is ! Sublimely great ! 

Enduring peace that binds a hemisphere ! 
Commercial rule, prosperity's estate. 

And moral power that kings and emperors fear. 



146 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Then let us raise a grand trhimplial arch, 

For never greater victory was won 
By bloody onset or by stolen march, 

Or never deed of nobler conrage done. 

All hail to those that lead us in the van 

Of nations looking toward that promised day, 

"When man shall cease to slay his fellow man, 
When crowns shall rust and empires shall decay. 



ENGLAND'S GLORIOUS RULE 

From over the billowy sea afar 

Is borne to us this day 
The echoing cry of the Demon, "War, 

While a nation stands at bay. 

With pestilence dire and famine gaunt, 
AVrithes India, England's thrall; 

While the rampant lion brings death and want, 
In that coveted land, Transvaal. 

America generous succor gives 

To India's starving horde, 
While the lauded spirit of conquest lives 

In the land with diamonds stored. 

Beneath the lion's paw, we learned 
That greed was her greatest fault. 

This land whose owners' rights she spurned. 
Was used as a treasure vault; 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 147 

From which she attempted by tax and force 

To balance her war-made debt; 
But the Colonies followed in freedom's course, 

And God did their cause abet. 

Now Liberty struggles beneath armed force, 

And her pleading voice we hear; 
And she calls to our nation un.til slie's hoarse, 

But Columbia sheds no tear. 

And yet we can never, in truth, forget 

Our own feeble days of yore. 
When patriot hearts were in purpose set 

To free Columbia 's shore ; 

When we in a bloody struggle bought 

The blessing of being free; 
And planted the banner for which we fought. 

As the svmbol of liberty. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE 

(The Song of a Spanish Sailor) 

Smooth Havana Harbor lay on a February day in ninety- 
eight. 

When the sun had sunk to rest, o'er the waters placid 
breast, 
Flew the messengers of Fate. 



148 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Lo, a mighty vessel rides on the slowly ebbing tides of the 

Bay; 
And these spirits in their flight through the falling shades 

of night, 
Mark it as a fitting prey. 

Now it anchors near tiie shore when the pleasant day is 
o'er 

And niglit grows ninrk ; 
While above it and below, waiting with impending blow, 

Now destnietion's workers lurk. 

''Weep, 0, watching angels, weep, for the brave, brave, 
men that sleep 

Beneath its deck. 
O'er their w^atery bier drop at least a heart- wrung tear, 

As they sink beneath the wreck." 

''Wail, 0, midnight breezes, wail! Bear the sad and dismal 
tale 
Across the sea 
To the loved ones ovei' there, who, perhaps, are bowed in 
prayer. 
Pleading for their safety." 

"Hide, 0, moon, behind a cloud, that its fleecy folds may 
shroud 
Thy silver light ; 
For the darkest night must need, than, tlie foulness of this 
deed. 
Be more beantiful and bright." 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 149 

Look! A flash of fire is seen and the sheets of flame be- 
tween, 
Is tossed the ship; 
As the bright- winged ligiitnings fly, redly glaring through 
the sky, 
Fiery serpents leap and skip. 

Then a mighty thunder rolls, and about three hundred 
souls 
Have fled apace; 
While the earth below them quakes and the heaven nearly 
shakes 
All the veiled stars from her face. 

As swift, the electric spark, light again, is changed to dark 

Above the scene ; 
The ghastly .deed is done and we wait the rising sun. 

O'er the waves that intervene. 



CHILD OF MY YOUTH 

Child of my youth whose questioning eyes 

Gaze on the world with mild surprise. 
Conscious of love's protecting care, 

Conscious of mystery everywhere, 
Pressing the frontier of life's unknown 

Backward to wisdom's very throne — 
May there be only revealed to you 

That which is beautiful, pure, and true! 



150 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 




Bernice Belle 
"Happiest heart in a happy land" page 148 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 151 

Thy lips are learning to lisp the lore 

Of the home and the school and the charm 'ed shore 
Of the sea on whose waters the fairy ship 

Of life's adventurer takes its trip, 
Freighted with treasure from fancy's store, 

Sailing to lands that you long to explore — 
JMay the lure of the sea, thy pilot be, 

In a harbor of joy to anchor thee! 

Child of my youth whose restless feet 

Daily new paths of experience beat. 
Brushing the dew from the opening flower, 

Chasing the rainbow, hour after hour, 
Building castles from shifting sand, 

Happiest heart in a happy land, 
May your life be perennial spring. 

With a glamour of gladness o'er everything! 

Child of my youth whose trusting heart 

Never has known deception's art, 
Clasping your arms about my neck. 

Innocent soul without spot or fleck. 
Curly head on my shoulder at rest, 

Snug as a bird in parental nest. 
May the world's passion and sin and pain 

Never the shrine of thy heart profane! 



152 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Child of my youth, such cannot be — 

Shadows arise on a summer sea, 
Reefs are hidden where sirens sing, 

And the tower decays where the ivies cling; 
Satan's abroad in an evening dress. 

Hands may strike, that a friend's now press- 
Launch bravely out on the treacherous sea, 

But the voyage has dangers for even — thee! 



THE MESOPOTAMIA N QUEEN 

In a Mesopotamian valley, 

Over five hundred leagues from the sea. 
Where pilgriming dreamers dally, 

And the hearts of men are free; 

Is a realm of exquisite beauty. 
Of prairie and hill and stream. 

Where all men do their duty, 
And some men dare to dream. 

A land of a happy people! 

A continent 's very heart ! 
Where the chimes from belfry and steeple 

Overmaster the din of the mart ! 

A virgin, unrivaled in graces. 

Is queen of this rich domain, 
AVhere wealth gladdens liumau faces; 

And millions extol her reign. 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 153 

The maize with its silks and tassel, 
For a seepter of power, she wields; 

And the banners that float from her castle 
Are sheaves of grain from the fields. 

Her crown is a wreath of roses, 

Her robes are mosaics of flowers 
That every color discloses 

Of meadow and woodland bowers. 

The heart of old IMammon is ravished, 

And long has he songht to espouse 
This queen upon whom he has lavished 

His fortune and frivolous vows. 

Other suitors she has that are gallant 

And ever await her command — 
For Virtue and Learning and Talent, 

Are the worthiest knights in the land. 

Sweet fountain of inspirations, 

So worthy of honor and fame, 
There is only one such among nations. 

And Iowa is her name. 

A RE-UNION 

' ' Give thanks unto the Lord of Lords. 

Oh, give thanks to the God of Gods. 

Praise God in His sanctuary. 

Praise Him for His mighty acts. 

Praise Him with the sound of trumpet. 

Fire and hail, snow and vapor. 

Stormy wind, fulfill His word." Psalms of David. 



154 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

"Oft is my heart when dajdight is dying, 

(O'er the white landscape the sun setteth red) 

Sad as the dirge that the night wind is sighing 
Over the snow-covered graves of the dead." 

"Frigid my soul as the clear flowing river 

Winter hath bound in his fetters so long, 
Naught from its icy embrace can deliver 

My soul, like the rapture of love's thrilling song." 

"This should have been a most happy Thanksgiving, 
Yet I've been tearful and sad all the day. 

For I have found life is not worth the living, 
When from the love of my husband aw^ay. ' ' 

' ' Only a year ago we were united. 

Yet I am sitting here sad and alone. 
Heaven, I plead that our quarrel be righted, 

And true love, though severed, be brought to its own." 

Thus by a window, a woman, reclining, 

Sang to the dark lowering shades of the night ; 

Handsome her young face that pale with love's pining, 
IMatched well her blue eyes and ringlets so light. 

Suddenly up from her soft sofa starting, 

Cheeks all aflush with the warm blood of youth, 

Happy emotion her blue eyes are darting. 
As low from the door- way she hears her name, "Ruth.' 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 155 

How could I ever portray such a meeting, 

When re-united with one welcome kiss, 
Conquered at last, without hope of retreating. 

They fall all the deeper in love's wide abyss. 

Side by side then on the carpet, they kneeling. 
Offered their hearts in thanksgiving to God, 

Righted with God and each other in feeling, 
Bowed in His presence, they whisper o'erawed: 

* ' Praise God in His sanctuary. 

Praise Him for His mighty acts. 

All the kings of earth shall praise Thee. 

I shall praise Thee with my whole heart." 



ULTIMA PLUVIA ANNI 

While sheltered and safe from the storm's bitter sally 
Within a neat cottage, so cheerful yet plain, 

I sit by the window and gaze o'er the valley, 
That suffering lies in the pitiless rain. 

On brown, sear'ed hillside the horses and cattle 
In shivering bunches are standing about. 

No thirsty buds here with delight the storm 's rattle, 
For autumn has stamped all the wild flowers out. 

The rabbit has fled to its grass-covered burrow, 

The birds all are sheltered beneath swaying boughs; 

The wind bends the corn o'er each long sloping furrow, 
That water, down rushing in, floods, deeper ploughs. 



156 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

The rain on the window pane ceases to patter, 
The cattle return to their grazing again; 

The clouds in the sky are beginning to scatter, 
The sun smiles a moment o'er valley and glen. 

We hitch up our horses, continue our travel 
In face of a wind blowing steady and cold. 

The road's many windings begin to unravel, 
Like sheep paths that finally lead to the fold. 

Our goal being reached just in time for our dinner, 
Our business transacted, we homeward return; 

And now I feel quite like a self willing sinner. 
Since I've written nothing of any concern. 

Aug. 15, 1903. 



OH, WILL YOU BE IVIY VALENTINE? 

My darling muse this morn awoke 

With something in her head. 
And in a teasing whisper spoke 

Before I left my bed; 
But when I took in hand my pen 

To drop thee just a friendly line. 
The only words she uttered then 

Was, ' ' will you be my valentine ? ' ' 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 157 

Then all at once occurred to me 

How on this wintry day, 
When snow encumbers every tree, 

The people used to say — 
Before Will Shakespeare wrote his plays, 

In words, for beauty half divine, 
And other poets sang their lays. 

Of ''will you be my Valentine?": 

"To-day is when the little birds, 

Amid the driving snow, 
That tell in pretty twittered words 

Their happiness below. 
All choose their mates with warbled song, 

On barren bush and tree and vine. 
While love the merry notes prolong 

Of "will you be my Valentine?" 

No matter how the north wind blows. 

Or how the snow flakes fall. 
The warmth of love that birdie knows 

Now cheers and blesseth all. 
Then why should we, dear Lena, mourn, 

And in love's disappointment pine, 
Why not my truest love return, 

And be my darling Valentine ? 



IN THE TWILIGHT 
I stood on the hills when the night was descending. 

And shadows were filling the valleys below; 
And far in the gloaming the screech-owl was sending 

Its thrilling and tremulous accents of woe. 



158 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Still out in the twilight the swallows were darting, 
And skimming the crest and the slope of the hill 

While lingering light of the day was departing, 
I heard in the distance a lone whip-poor-will. 

A mourning-dove, journeying lone and benighted. 
Passed by me, unwittingly fanning my cheek ; 

And down in the darkening valley alighted, 
A rest for its flight-weary pinions to seek. 

0, thus will it be when life's sun is declining, 
And standing alone on the verge of the grave, 

I'll gaze o'er the vale with the blackest of lining. 
The nightmare of cowards, the dread of the brave — 

Below me, uncertainty, mystery, fearing, 

A bottomless void that the eyes search in vain. 

But like to the first star of heaven appearing, 
The bright star of Hope will shine forth again. 



SABBATH MORNING 

Nov/ dawns the happy day of rest 
That God at earth's creation blest. 
And o'er the green hills' towering crest. 
The sun unclouded peers. 
The sky is blue as unvexed seas, 

There comes a sound of whispering breeze 
Among the leaf-enburdened trees, 
That shed the dew like tears. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 159 

How softly through the silence floats 
The early songsters ' matin notes, 

'er fields of wheat and rye and oats, 
The mist begins to rise. 
I gaze across the landscape wide 

Of blooming fields, the farmer's pride, 
And feel joy's thankful, swelling tide. 
For this, oiir paradise. 

Then comes a strange and breathless hush, 
Unbroken by the lark or thrush. 

'er heaven 's face, a deepening flush 
Of rosy light is spread. 
It seems a prayer is sent to God 

From every flower that decks the sod, 
And every tree o 'er landscape broad, 
And e'en the grass, I tread. 



TO MY PUPILS 

Days come and go on wings of light, 

Hopes bud and bloom, and sorrows blight, 

And men grow old and pass away — 
While children, that are now at play, 

Will soon be men and women grown, 
With cares and sorrows of their own. 

Though hopes and joys so brightly flame. 
It will not always be the same — 

Oft sorrows blight our highest aim, 
Oft shrouded are our joys in shame. 

So youthful hearts, be gay, be free. 
Nor let the future trouble ye. 



IgO LYRICS OB^ LEISURE 

Dear pupils of a happy hour, 

I would that it were in my power 

To shape your lives for right and truth, 
Inculcate virtue in your youth, 

Eradicate each slight defect 
That in your natures I detect. 

I trust that I have sown the seeds 
Of wisdom and destroyed the weeds 

That choke the infant plant, success, 
And leave the heart a wilderness; 

And when your lives their harvest yield, 
May you behold a fruitful field. 

The time has come when w^e must part, 
There's joy and sadness in each heart, 

And you will find in after years 

That smiles are blended oft with tears; 

But let your hearts be gay and free, 
Nor let the future trouble ye. 



Perhaps we, all, shall meet again. 
Let time and chance determine when; 

But at the summons of the bell, 
You meet to bid a long farewell 

To lessons, books, and master's rule. 
And farewell to the C off man school. 

June 2, 1902 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 161 

THE PROPHET OF LATTER DAYS. 

What did the prophets of old foretell ? 

Ruin, destruction, and fiery hell, 
Ninevah wasted by sword and fire, 

Babylon fallen, and humbled Tyre ; 
And annals of history, tell alas, 

To coming- ages, ' ' It came to pass. ' ' 

What did the prophet of late foretell. 

Who for his prophecy martyred fell, 
Killed by the rabble, as Christ was killed. 

Doubting His word that shall be fulfilled? 
This he proclaimed to the trembling star 

And the reeling earth — "Behold war! war!! war!!!'' 

Soon shall be sounded the bugle blast 

Mid war-clouds gathering thick and fast. 
Till every nation shall fly to arms. 

Aroused by hatred and false alarms — 
A word, a blow, like the lightning flash, - 

And the hostile arms of the nations clash. 

Where is the peace that the angels spake 

Unto the shepherds that lay awake 
Watching the stars, and to all the earth 

Sounded the tidings at Jesus' birth? 
Found in the hearts of the saints that sing, 

"Glory to God, our Lord, and our King." 



Ig2 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

Scoff if ye will, at the word of God ! 

Brand it as infamous and a fraud ! 
Jeer at the prophet who dared to raise 

His voice of truth in these latter days ! 
Thus did they laugh at the seers of old, 

But it came to pass, if the truth be told. 

Truth will the world so seldom own, 
When first she speaks in her awful tone — 

A great majority loathe her face, 

A few will worship and then embrace. 

The prophet is heard no more, alas. 

But the words he spake shall come to pass. 
Written about 1900. 



VENUS 

Stand here and turn thy eyes, fair one. 
On yonder star. 'Tis like a sun 

Of smaller orb that sheds no rays 
To mingle with the King of Day's, 

But permeates the gloom of night 
With darts of incandescent light. 

Behold, it is the only star 

That glitters in the space afar, 

And stretched below it, grim and black, 
Around the horizon's sunset track, 

A storm-cloud rises to the view, 

And casts a shade o'er the heaven's blue. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 163 

Look ! How the rolling mass of clouds 
Within their folds the star enshrouds, 

And in the darkness, I perceive 

You shudder. and would make believe 

It is the night-wind's chilling touch, 
And not a fancied terror's clutch. 

Shall thus, my friend, the star of hope. 
That lights the wayward souls that grope 

Amid the darkness of despair, 

And guides them past her hidden snare, 

Like light extinguished by a breath, 
Be smothered in the clouds of death? 



THE HARBOR OF DEATH 

As ships on the ocean 

Unceasingly roll 

In mighty commotion. 

The tempest-tossed soul 
Is borne on the merciless surges of doubt 
O'er life's stormy ocean, till daylight dies out. 

0, loud roar the breakers! 

Destruction's ahead! 

And all are partakers 

Of one awful dread! 
But there on what seems but a desolate shore, 
Await the glad spirits of those gone before. 



161 LYRICS OP LEISURE 

"We long seek a haven, 

A harbor of rest, 

But soon, like a craven, 

Do vamly protest, 
As hurled to our death on the pitiless wave. 
We find the lost liarbor within the cruel grave. 

As night is the darkest 
Near day's cheerful dawn. 
And clouds that thou markest 
When storms are near gone. 
The dark paths of life that so many have trod, 
But lead to the glory and presence of God. 



THE AFRICAN POETS' TOMB 

Where'er the soul of music's breathed. 
The poet's crown of flowers is wreathed, 
And many honors are bequeathed 
The sacred muse. 

Few nations of this mighty earth 
Have failed to give a poet birth 
To moderate the social mirth 
"With sadder views. 

The greatest honor he is paid. 

Is when, within the grave, he's laid, 
Wrapt in the endless midnight shade 
Of which he dreamed. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 165 

Then o'er his head they mark his fame, 
Caught from the Muses' sacred flame, 
That died and left an immortal name, 
By all esteemed. 

In Africa's most torrid land, 

There grows a forest, old and grand, 
And baobabs, like giants, stand 
Within its heart. 

These trees are of colossal size, 

AVhich much the simple natives prize. 
For oft dead in their bosom lies 
Their men of art. 

Far better than a marble vault, 
A tomb of rock or cold asphalt, 

Where all search out the dead man's fault — 
Is this strange bed. 

Far better than a final rest 

With England's greatest, noblest, best. 
Is sleep with which are truly blest 
Their poet — dead. 

These dark-skinned minstrels well are fed, 
And, when the spark of life has fled, 
Are held in superstitious dread 
By all their race ; 

And for a fit and honored tomb. 
Devoid of damp and earthy gloom, 

Are, in this great tree's hollowed room. 
Consigned a place. 



IQQ LYRICS OF LEISURE 

How pleasant is their calm repose, 

AVhen through the leaves the night-wind blows 
Or when the ghostly top-branch glows 
With sunset's ray; 

Or when the Autunni rainfalls pour, 
Or lions, stalking, near them roar. 
Or when the weary night is o'er, 
And dawns the day. 

Thus might I rest when life is done. 
Unknown to all and mourned by none. 
Where even beasts my mansion shun. 
As if in fear ; 

And howl at distance on the breeze. 
Amid the neighboring forest trees, 
With ne'er a winter blast to freeze, 
The storm-cloud's tear. 



THEY STOOD ON THE BRIDGE AT TAVILIGHT 

Darkness was falling o'er country and town 
When two lovers met in the gloaming. 

Dressed in their very best broadcloth and gown, 
To go with bold Cupid a-roaming. 

Walking and talking, these two lovers went, 

With visions of billing and cooing; 
Heedless, yet knowing tlieir footsteps were bent 

To haunts of their first honied wooing. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 167 

Standing ere long on the Little Sioux bridge, 

They bent o'er the railing together; 
Gazing at smothering swarms of the midge, 

Till "Stubby" remarked on the weather. 

Sorrow was brooding v.ith pinions so black, 

And on his mind heavily weighing; 
"Sadly, I'm going and ne'er to come back, 

Away to the AYest, " he was saying. 

Fearful of parting, her tender heart swelled, 
She could not refrain from out-crying: 

"Don't leave me Stuhhy, tears to her eyes welled, 
While Stubhy was sniffing and sighing. 

Alas! Overbalanced with his awful grief, 

And losing firm hold on the railing, 
He suddenly left her with notice so brief, 

She scarcely could ask, "Are you ailing?" 

Quickly, the water revived him again. 

Like wine when man's spirit is failing, 
Eising, he said, ' ' I have found like all men. 

True love is not ahvays smooth sailing." 



ON AN INFANT IN ITS CRADLE 

With tender pride, the mother drew aside 
The dainty coverlet and fondly smiled 

LTpon the wondering eyes that opened wide. 
And babbling lips of her first-born infant child. 



16g LYRICS OF LEISURE 

A poet, privileged to gaze upon 

That pearl of great(^st price, a dawning sonl. 
Bent o'er the cradle with its veil withdrawn — 

And thoughts arose that swept beyond control. 

The mystery of mysteries profound, 
The enigma of the universe was there ! 

What might the wisdom of the world confound! 
Theology's debate. Philosophy's despair! 

AVithin those narrow bounds of Time and Space, 
Was all the truth of God and Life possessed. 

Within that wooden cradle's close embrace. 
Did all of Science and Religion rest. 

''Ho, Man of Science, give your labor o'er! 

And by the infant 's cradle stand with me ! 
Forsake the laboratory with its lore 

Of theory confirmed by theory." 

''You would eternal truths of life reveal. 
With acid, scalpel, balance, microscope! 

You yearn to know what Heaven did conceal ! 
Behold, epitomized, your fondest hope!" 

"Philosophers, who wander through a maze 
Of subtle thought with logic for a guide. 

And seek to penetrate the mystic haze 
That bounds our intellect on every side;" 

"Forsake your formal, syllogistic lore. 

And stand with me beside the infant's bed ! 

Here lies all knowledge, ye have sought of yore. 
The laws that bind the living and the dead!" 



LYRICS OP LEISURE 169 

* ' The magi journeyed from the distant East 

To where the Son of Mary cradled lay, 
Unknown to king, and Pharisee and priest, 

With offerings, their reverence to pay." 

'' 'Become as little children', said The Christ 
To his disciples, ' would ye Heaven know ; ' 

And what for His own chosen few sufficed, 
Sufficeth now, as centuries ago." 

A sunbeam fell upon the infant 's face. 

And seemed a vague, inchoate smile to urge ; 

And in the clear, blue eyes, I seemed to trace 
A consciousness that struggled to emerge. 



''What mockery is this! What idle dream!" 
I heard the quipping voice of Science cry. 

"What raillery is this! What base esteem! 
I heard enraged Philosophy reply. 



) J 



And it is well — They cannot understand! 
For through the eyes of Faith the Poet sees 
, The truths of life, most beautiful and grand. 
And solves the mystery of mysteries. 



THE RAIN ON THE ROOFS 

"Patter, patter, patter," goes the rain upon the roofs. 

"Clatter, clatter, clatter," tis a sound of horses' hoofs 
On the stony pavement hard. 
On the pasture's verdant sward, 

"Patter, clatter, patter, clatter, patter!" 



170 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

''Ugli-Oa, ugh-Oo, ugh-Oo," says the wind that speedeth 
past. . 
'^Ugh-Oo, ugh-Oo, ugh-Oo." houses shiver in the blast. 
How the rafters groan and creak, 
How the timbers moan and squeak, 

"Ugh-Oo, ugh-Oo, ugh-Oo, ugh-Oo, ugh-Oo!" 

"Patter, patter, patter," goes the rain upon the roofs. 

"Clatter, clatter, clatter," tis the beat of horses' hoofs, 
Lulling me to dreamful rest. 
With my head on fancy's breast, 

"Patter, clatter, patter, clatter, patter." 



THE SOLDIER RIVER 

By banks of green, by bowers of song, 
The Soldier River winds along. 

A schoolhouse by its waters bright, 
Sits basking in the warming light 

Of April suns, while black-birds sing. 
The joy and love that comes with spring. 

Through door and windows, open wide. 
There flows a never-ceasing tide 

Of vv^arbled song upon the breeze, 

Rich scented with the flowers and trees. 

The children feel a joy and cheer. 
That lingers with them all the year. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 171 

When comes the welcome hour of play, 

The happiest hour of all the day, 
To every little anxious heart — 

It would take a master-hand of art 
To paint the picture that I see 

Presented every day to me. 

0, purling waters, may you flow 

Forever where the grasses grow. 
Where flowers bloom and willow^s rise 

To make the scene a paradise; 
And may your banks forever be 

A place where children wander free. 



SUN-SET :musings 

We were roaming in the gloaming, in the shadow and the 
dew, 
For, unheeded had the golden sun of summer sunk from 
view ; 
And the brightest stars of heaven had begun to glimmer 
forth. 
And exert a mild influence on the parched and heated 
earth. 
Still I feel the gentle pressure of her hand upon my arm. 
Still I see the color mounting to her cheeks so flushed 
and warm; 
And her eyes of blue are shining with a strange, uncertain 
light. 
Like the scintillating jewels on the bosom of the night. 



172 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

I could read their hidden meaning — there was doubt at war 
with trust — 
Could and would she then believe me ? And I whispered 
low, "You must." 
There was mingled joy and sadness, pausing on that wide 
abyss, 
Should she forward step or backward, and I answered 
with a kiss. 

Tis a truth of life, I utter — when the lips of lovers meet, 
All their hearts' concealed affection blends in harmony 
complete ; 
And the soul, to soul responding, makes a heaven all its 
own, 
While the doubts and sore misgivings have with magic 
quickness flown. 

Many years have since departed and I wander far away. 

All alone and heavy-hearted, thinking of that happy day ; 
And I live again those moments in. the twilight, still an(^ 
wan, 
But awake to pain and sorrow when the dreams of love 
are gone. 



A SONG OF CONTENTMENT 

0, I know a man that ever 

Works for keep, alone, for never 
Has he found a fit employment in the sphere of human life ; 

Though devoid of family blessing, 

And so negligent in dressing. 
He can always find enjoyment in his share of human, strife. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 173 

Chorus : 
''0, I'll quit work by and by. 
And, in mansions of the sky, 
; With the few whom God has blest, 

I shall ever peaceful rest, 
O, I'll quit work ivhen I dio/^ 

Friends at heart and humane neighbors, 
Look not on his slavish labors 
With a tearful eye of pity as a task without reward; 
Though his form is twisted badly, 
And his face is wrinkled sadly. 
He will always sing this ditty when his work is long and 
hard. 
Chorus: 



THE THEATER OF LIFE 

^'Life is but a play and all the men and women merely 
players ' ' — Shakespeare. 

Within a theater I sat amid a waiting throng, 

That came to spend the evening at a play of mirth and 
song ; 
Full many pulses quickened with the players borne along, 

Full many hearts beat faster to the music swelling strong. 
But, as I gazed, my heart was sore, for to my mind there 
came 
A thought I've often pondered o'er with mingled grief 
and shame — 
0, what is man, as mortal, but the shadow of a name, 
A worshipper, ignoble, at the shrine of wealth or fame! 



174 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

Behold among the gathered crowd, the youth, the maiden 
fair ; 
The babe that laughs and cries aloud, a tender mother's 
care ; 
Behold the man of middle life — success has made him 
proud, 
Behold the gray-haired couple by the weight of years now 
bowed ! 

These represent the human, race of every clime and age, 
That looks with wide-astonished face on life's dramatic 
stage ; 
Applauding those who dare to stamp their names on 
history's page. 
With the fury of a mad-man or the wisdom of a sage. 

Life's farces always best are played by those who paint 
for show, 
And heroes are immortal made by fancy 's subtle glow, 
As they strut before the public, mid life's weal or deepest 
woe, 
While the millions idly watch them and upon them praise 
bestow. 

So as I gazed, my heart was sore, for to my mind there came 
This thought, I've often pondered o'er with mingled 
grief and shame — 

0, what is man, as mortal, but the shadow of a name, 
A worshipper, ignoble, at the shrine of wealth or fame. 



LYRICS OF LEISURE 175 

THE DEATH OF POPE LEO XIIL 

Out from an Alpine hut, 

High on a rugged jut 

Of a mountain's towering crest, 

There stepped a hermit monk. 

Whose long white beard sought rest 

Upon his heaving breast. 

The fiery sun had sunk 
Behind the blushing west, 
When, with a searching gaze, 
The monk his thought expressed. 

''For many anxious days 
From Avhen the sun arose 
Until the evening's close, 
I've watched without repose 
To see a sign from Heaven — 
For in a dream 'twas given. 
That when the Pope at Rome, 
God's vicar here on earth. 
Went to his promised home. 
Prepared before his birth, 
That I should live to see a sign 
And then should die ; 
But naught has come to me. 
And time is passing by." 



176 LYRICS OF LEISURE 

He ceases now to speak, 
And, lo, as soon, is heard 
The shrill cry of a bird. 
Whose mighty wings and beak 
Are strange unto his eyes, 
And swiftly on it flies. 
Like night-bird from its nest, 
Winging its way in quest 
Of food among the skies. 

The monk called from the height — 
''Where dost thou wing thy flight 
Up past the half- veiled star? 
Out through the sunset portal, 
That n,ever was passed by mortal, 
Where dark and daylight war? 
My long-trained eyes grow dim. 
Watching thee on thy w^ay. 
O'er the horizon's brim. 
Lost in the sunset spray." 

Back came the unspoken answer. 
Only an echoed thought. 
Yet, like a necromancer, 
It was a truth, it brought, 
"Leo, the pope, is dead, 
A courier from heaven 
Flies through the silent even. 
Bearing the soul that's fled. 

And the grim hand of death 
Smothered the hermit's breath. 



















.OUNO 








i<^ c O " « 



<^. 



,o^ 



4 O. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



018 602 124 1 



K 



J, I 



.^>.^ > 






ii;:ii-tM 



\mMAY 



